Girl
by EstelliPinKemo
Summary: A mother abandons her daughter at the Central Park Zoo. Now the penguins must help find the little girl a better life. I'M DONE FINALLY.
1. To The Zoo

**Girl **

**By Eppogirl**

**Yeah, I'm starting new stories and not continuing my old ones but oh well! You know me and that I do this sorta thing. And, the first chappy sucks get used to it. Yes, I'm in a bad mood.**

"Mommy, where are we going?" A little girl about two or three years old asked and then immediately winced, knowing a mean answer was a-coming. And of course it was.

"The zoo, duh, you animal," her mother spat.

Her mean mom had just flushed the courage she had been building up down the toilet. She didn't build up her courage again to ask which zoo and why they were going. Instead, she hung her head and thought about how pretty the NYC sidewalk glassphalt looked like as she tried to keep up to her fast walking mother, all while attempting not to get stepped on by other pedestrians.

The little girl could have been the ugliest little thing you have ever seen, from her scraggly brown hair that looked like a wig made of dirt, to her extremely skinny frame, in which you could see her ribs poking out through her clothes. Her gray eyes were unnaturally huge and her skin was blotchy with a lot of different shades and colors splattered all over her face. Her black shirt and gray pants were passable, but just a size too small. Walking barefoot would have been better than wearing her what-the-heck-is-that-color? sandals.

The only thing new was her purple jacket, which she adored. It was just the perfect color of light purple, not too showy and almost pink. It was also comfortable and she snuggled into the cozy warmth with the hood up to cover her hair and face. Her mother had just bought it this morning, probably to keep people from taking second glances at her poor little daughter. The women herself looked pretty okay, blending in with everyone around her though you could feel the evilness radiating from her. She didn't care about anything except for money to keep herself in good conditions. She didn't want her pathetic little daughter anymore because she was just such a burden in her failing life.

Soon, after walking and walking and _walking_, they arrived at the zoo. The girl looked up and her big eyes grew impossibly bigger as she stared ahead at the zoo gates towering above her. There were a lot of people dawdling around because of the weekend, mostly tourists who were going in and out of the zoo. The girl reached for her mother's hand for reassurance, but the woman just swatted her hand away.

They went in and dawdled among the other people. The mother just kept walking and walking and not even stopping to look at the animals in the habitat, and now the girl had to work even harder to keep up with the only thing that gave her clothes and food, because everything she saw was so interesting. She really did not want to part with the animals she saw because she was just so fascinated with the animal kingdom. She had never seen many animals and didn't know what half of them were here at the zoo.

Her mother finally led her to a bench in front of a habitat that held a ginormous animal that was gray and had a long nose. She stared at this huge creature, mesmerized by it. She didn't dare ask her mother what it was, afraid to receive a slap this time. But she soon grew bored at looking at this large animal, and her mother was stroking her back in a way she never did, so the girl began to feel tired, and soon she was asleep.


	2. Abandoned

**Girl **

**Chappy 2: Abandoned**

**A/N: Thanks to reviewers! Whoever was concerned about my feelings in the last chapter, it's okay–I'm fine now! No need to worry. Whoever was shocked that a mother could do this to her own little daughter–believe it. There are worse cases out there. Now onto the story!**

The girl opened her sleepy eyes and yawned. Her whole body ached, as usual, as she was never given a proper place to sleep. She sat up and her head hit something hard, causing her to yelp in pain and awake her even more to look at her surroundings.

It was dark–nighttime, she observed, as she seemed to be outside and everything was quiet except for a few cricket chirps. What she had been sleeping on was hard and cold and rough. It seemed to be a dirty, dusty sidewalk of some type. What she had hit her head on was a bunch of bars–part of a bench, she realized.

_She was under a bench._

Scrambling out in shock and confusion, she could now stand up in the light of the half moon. Her body ached more than ever, and the air sliced cold wind onto her ugly skin. She pulled her jacket closer around her body, and turned into a complete circle to see where she was. Alone. Deserted. No living thing in sight. Only things that looked like habitats at a zoo. Several street lamps dimly lighted everything she could see. This seemed a lot like a scary dream.

"Mommy?" The girl started walking briskly along pathways with brick walls or fences on both sides. If this was dream, she wanted it to be _over_. She walked for a long time. Confusion transformed into worry, and worry escaped into panic as she started walking in circles. "Mommy, where are you?" Tears were starting to blind her vision and falling down her cheeks, making her cold face colder. It didn't feel like a dream anymore.

"MOMMY!" The girl was now screaming and running around in full alert panic and horror. Tears were cascading over her eyelids like a waterfall and damping her jacket. "I NEED YOU I WANNA GO HOME!" Mommy was never really mommy, and home wasn't exactly home, but at least she had some source of food and clothing, and some kind of shelter to stay in.

In the end, she tripped over a crack and came tumbling down to the sidewalk in surprise. Her hands instinctively reached out to keep the rest of her body from hitting the ground, but they slipped, and now she was lying on the sidewalk, with nothing to do but cry and cry her eyes out. She huddled in a ball with her cheeks pressed against the zoo walkway, thinking how terrible this life was, and wishing the ground would just open up a hole and she would disappear in it…

Her sobs were so loud, and her eyes were so blinded by saltwater, she didn't hear or see four penguins gather around her…

**A/N: Yeah, I think I'm better with short chapters…review!**


	3. Encounters

**Girl chappy 3**

**Encounters**

**By Eppogirl**

**Uh..**

**Um...**

**Thanks to reviewers! I actually have enough time to spell out all yo names w/o copy and pasting because there were so many people: horsexlover, InternetGirl123, Eternally Ebony, Mobygirl1, LM1991, CayennePeppr, mutated-ducks-rule, lovingSkipper, MonkeyLucy, ruthc93, leyva1130, AnnaConda1209 Tonycakes, and penguinsrcutexoxo! **

**Wow. I did not know I would get this many reviewers for this story, because it was not the best plotline...**

The girl screamed in shock through her sobs when she felt something slick and solid touch her on the skin of the bare leg exposed between her pants and shoes. She stopped her own crying so suddenly she had to cough a bit to keep any more tears from spilling out.

She screamed again and felt her legs clumsily kick the ground to push herself backwards before slamming into the brick wall five feet behind her. The slam took her by surprise and she couldn't scooch back anymore to get away from her mystery person, so instead, she just curled up in a ball and covered her face with her hands and whimpered, all tensed up for what was going to happen next.

The penguins approached the frightened little girl cautiously. "Remember–she might be an enemy," Skipper warned his team, though he had his doubts. "Her sudden unpredictable movements are quick enough to throw us off…"

Private looked worried. "Or, she could just be a scared little girl who has no idea what she's doing here," he suggested.

"Maybe," Skipper said. "Let's ask her some questions."

The girl peeked through her fingers in curiosity as the penguin leader started confidently waddling towards her. This was weird, and she was confused. All that she knew about penguins were that they were birds that didn't fly. He stood two feet away from her trembling body. She had definitely never met one before. A million questions started popping up in her head, questions from _why can't penguins fly like normal birds? _ to _where did these penguins come from?_

"Tell me what you are doing here at my zoo," Skipper demanded.

The girl stared at the flat-headed penguin. All she heard was a bunch of penguin noises. "I–I…," she stammered, confused by all that has happened.

Skipper facepalmed. "Of course we need a speak n spell." He started walking away. "Let's bring her inside, boys. It'll be easier to interrogate there." He turned to Private. "She's in your care, Private."

Skipper, Kowalski and Rico started waddling away, leaving Private to bring her in. The young penguin watched the other three walk away for a bit before looking up at the girl with his cutest face on. The girl stared back with widened eyes, wondering what was going on now. She felt much safer now with the young, cute penguin in front of her than with any of those other penguins, or even her mother. He seemed kind and gentle, and didn't look like he would harm the her in a million years.

He reached out his flipper towards her in offering. The girl, not knowing what she was feeling at the moment, tentatively reached out her own hand and clasped it onto the penguin's flipper. At that touch, a wave of emotion filled her mind. It was a beautiful feeling, a feeling of warmth that went straight to her heart. She had never felt anything like it before. A feeling of acceptance, relieve, trust and happiness. These penguins will surely help her. She was now part of their lives.

She slowly stood up, and, hand in flipper, the girl and the penguin started walking towards the penguin's habitat.

**To be continued…**

**I never gave the girl a name, did I? XD**

**Should I bump the rating up to a 'T'? Because people were all like "Oh! The horror!" in their reviews…**


	4. Enter

**Girl chappy 4**

**Enter**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Okay…some of you said that I didn't have to bump this story up to a T, but some of you said 'sure', so I'll keep it at a K+ for now. Because it just might get worse. Especially when the girl and her mother meet up again. And the orphanage thing.**

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The girl was now crawling through a circular tunnel, following the cute little penguin who had been so nice to her. She and the penguin were using a different route back to the penguin habitat through a sewer grate that was plastered on the side of a wall of another habitat. She didn't know why they were going another way.

The tunnel was small, and was packed with dirt on all sides. It was bumpy and jagged on all sides, and she could feel lumps and hard rocks and smooth sleek steel pipes every time her hands and knees pressed down on the ground to move forward. It was hard to see where her hand would land because of the very dim light from little red or yellow bulbs sticking out here and there. Her hands and knees hurt a little, but it was not too bad, because she had been hurt worse, like when her mother had once brought home a cane and used it to hit her…

Tears pooled into her salty eyes again. Life was so confuzzling! Did real penguins really act like this? She was doing what she was told, without knowing what any of it meant.

She looked like a mess. Her ugly hair was matted to her face, stuck together by tears. Her pretty purple jacket was getting really dirty, mainly because of all the dirt and dust landing on it from the tunnel. This tunnel felt so looooooooong…when will it end?

The cute little penguin stopped waddling suddenly, and the girl almost squished him flat with her hand as she continued crawling. Surprised at his sudden pause, her head lifted up and she slammed her head against the tunnel ceiling above her. She gasped and clenched her jittering jaws which had snapped shut from the impact. She squished her eyes shut until the pain on her head subsided. Like I said, she had felt worse…

The little penguin turned around in surprise at her gasp. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" He apologized. He was met with a blank stare. Remember, she didn't understand penguin talk, though she had a hunch that he had just apologized to her.

The penguin turned back around and pushed something in front of him. It swung open and bright light spilled into the tunnel. The girl kept on crawling after the penguin even though the bright light made her squint and not see much.

Suddenly, there was just air where ground was supposed to be and she gasped in surprise again, falling about six inches down to a cement floor. But she didn't stop there and tumbled forwards and landed at a pair of orange feet.

"You guys sure took your time," the Skipper smirked.

Of course, the girl had no idea what he just said. But she had a hunch.


	5. Names

**Chappy 5: Names**

**Look! Another chapter. Thankies to reviewers!:**

**Kukipye: OKAY, OKAY, GOSH.**

**Eternally Ebony: Yes, it was like a filler.**

**AnnaConda1209: Thankies! XD**

**lovingSkipper: Same-o here-o. Plus, i think i heard that song before.**

**mutated-ducks-rule: LOL. BTW, it's okay! I am sure you can submit more than 100 reviews, just that the review history will only show the last hundred. So. Yeah. If we couldn't submit more that 100, that would be sad.**

**MonkeyLucy: Thank you!**

The girl was given a pillow, blanket, a stuffed bear from the zoovenir shop, and a cookie. She neglected the pillow and blanket but hugged the bear and nibbled at the cookie, which tasted suspiciously fishy. She realized she had forgotten the last time she had eaten, and was indeed super hungry.

The penguins waited for the girl to feel more at home. Skipper was now less suspicious of the girl, and had decided to be friendlier. The only reason he had suspected her at first was because they found her at night instead of seeing her in the day, and that she was different from other kids her age that came to the zoo. Other kids were happy and jolly, and looked healthy and clean. Other kids were fun and imaginative, and were pretty and put in nice clothes. Other kids also seemed to have nice people who looked after them and stayed close to them at the zoo. The girl was definitely NOT like other kids.

The girl began to feel more comfortable in the HQ, so Skipper decided to start asking questions, as that would help them know what to do next. "Let's start of easy," he decided in his penguin voice. Then he grabbed the speak n spell that Rico had vomited up (very much to the girl's surprise, disgust, and amazement) and pressed some buttons. Almost immediately, the box spoke: What is your name?

The girl stared. This thing was amazing, though she didn't like its voice. She struggled with what it just said, and shrugged miserably.

Skipper facepalmed, and typed some more. What are you called?

Let's see. Her mother always called her either Brat, Animal, Wretch, Stupid, Idiot, or, or…

"Nincompoop," the girl said proudly. It was always said meanly, like the rest of her names, but she liked the sound of this the best.

There was an awkward silence. Private look like he was about to laugh so Kowalski gave him a head slap.

"Okay, she doesn't have a name, or pretending not to," Skipper finally announced. "So we'll think up one."

The girl suddenly felt ashamed. She didn't know why she did, but it was something that embarrassed her. She also still didn't know what the penguin had said. She squished the teddy bear tight and struggled to ask a question, too. "What are _you_ called?" She mumbled.

The penguins stared at her. "Excuse me?" He asked. "We didn't here you…speak louder." He made the speak n spell say exactly what he said.

"What are _you_ called?" She said a bit more loudly.

The penguins got it. Skipper first typed his name: Skipper

The girl nodded, and made sure to call the flat headed one that from now on, though she thought the name was weird.

Next was Rico: Rico

The girl nodded slightly again.

This was so odd. She didn't know the penguins had names.

Then next came Private: Private

The girl stared. She was pretty sure that wasn't a name, but she stayed silent.

Finally, Kowalski put: Kowalski

Okay, this name was the weirdest. It looked and sounded weird. She tried to sound it out. "Ku–wa–skee." She giggled. It was funny, too.

Kowalski, on the other hand, was very annoyed. "I can't believe she's making fun of my name," he muttered. "What's so bad about it? It's not like that name is weird for a first name or anything."

Suddenly, they all froze, and all noise stopped abruptly. Suddenly, they all realized something, which had taken its time to sink in. Suddenly, all eyes turned onto the girl, who was also shocked. _What_ was the thing that was shocking? The girl had _laughed_ for goodness sakes! The girl was amazed. That was first time she had giggled because of something good and funny. And she _liked_ laughing. It looked like her stay here was going to be enjoyable.

**Okay, peeps! Ideas for names. I have a few, but I want to see yours.**


	6. Slumber

**Girl chappy 6**

**By Eppogirl**

**Slumber**

***about 23 reviews hit me in one week flat* HOLY SMOKES! I didn't know my request for names for the little girl would scrape in that many comments! I know that there are lurkers who read stories without reviewing, but... O_o this shocks (and pleases) me XP So thanks to Kukipye, fox tamer 113, Anna the Magical Conda, xXxPOMROXMAHSOXGIRL227xXx, RandomPerson123, InternetGirl123, mutated-ducks-rule, Random Kat, lovingSkipper, StoryMaker7, LM1991, Toon92, MitsukiS, From Darkness and Light, MonkeyLucy, Smile-I'mTheEndOfAllThatYouSee, Princess Alyssa, VivianShadowGirl, Eternally Ebony, PerryRocks- Wolf Warrior, Mr, Olivia the Witch, and XmenTmnt97 for reviewing!**

**Okay, the names that I like that you people have offered are: Gwennie, Mia, Charlie, Casey, Eliza, Sasha, Olivia, Kiwi, Ava, Ginger, Ivory, Jamie, Kalista, Paige, Star, Hope, Angel, Elly, Emily, and a lot of people seem to like the name Dakota XP me too!**

**The ideas for names that I have and got myself are: Alexa, Dani, Jewel, Misty, Keianni, Mae, Piper, Poppy, Olive, Willow, Nikki, Jaz, Faye, Ash, River, Bree, Heart, Kacy, Zoe, Kit, Joanne, Emma, Avery, and Erika.**

**I'm the type of person who likes making lists.**

**Okay, voting time! Choose any of the above names (maximum is six) and the ones that most people like will be the ones that go on into the next round of voting! Unless, of course, everyone likes the same name, then it'll end right there!**

**Did you know it took one hour to type out this whole chapter story, and all that is bolded and edited took another hour (I know! I'm a slow typer)?**

**Now I better get on with the story before the author's note becomes longer than the actual chapter story itself.**

The girl was now too tired to answer any more questions. Right after she giggled, the penguins asked more questions but the girl started to get cranky and screamy. After that she remained silent and did not reply at all. When all four penguins looked closely, they saw that she was dozing off. So they gave her a pile of pillows and blankets to sleep on, being very caring.

"Good night," Private said softly to the little girl. And the girl knew, she_ just knew_, he was wishing her a good night to her in penguin talk and she didn't need a translator to know what he was saying. She gave a giant yawn–which caused all the penguins to yawn, too–before drifting off into the land of sleep. When Rico tried to tug the stuffed bear out of her arm, he couldn't, as her grip was so strong, stronger than he thought it would be, which surprised him.

As the penguins climbed into their separate bunks tonight, Private whispered, "I just feel so sad for that girl."

"It is indeed the most saddening and mushy lovey child care operation we've ever had," Skipper replied. "I mean, most of our missions are us fighting against human kids, not helping them…!"

"If we can inquire some more useful questions out of her tomorrow, maybe we can actually assist her, and fulfill our mission," Kowalski mused. "We still don't know her real, actual name! Well, actually, she DOESN'T have a real, actual name, but we need to give her one! WE can't go on referring to her by just saying 'her' and 'she' and 'poor little abandoned girl'…"

"We'll think of one for her tomorrow" Private replied.

Rico gave a grunt, a short, delayed grunt from when he realized that she was stronger than he imagined.

"Good night, boys," Skipper said, closing the conversation by turning off the lights. "Sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs, or archenemies get to you!"

He forgot to mention nightmares, though.

So 23 minutes later, a low whimper started up from somewhere beneath and on top the pile of pillows and blankets. It grew into a low moan, and from there, rose in volume to a full-out bloodcurdling scream. The penguins flipped out of their bunks to stare into the girl's direction just as she began to yell out very audible words that made the penguins hesitate a bit "NO NO NO PLEASE DON'T!" she screamed. "STOP PLEASE STOP!" She started sobbing. " Enuff…leave me alone!" The she let out the highest shriek she had done so far.

Private was extremely worried, so he and Rico instantly moved to shake her awake. She awoke with a shock and her screaming stopped abruptly as she started whimpering again, realizing her nightmare was just a dream.

"Nightmares," Kowalski muttered. " Should've expected them…"

"What terrible dream could she have had been having?" A horrified Private stood shaking. "Oh, good golly…"

"Keep a sharp eye on her for the rest of the night," Skipper ordered as the girl gasped her way back to sleep, eyes watering with tears for the second time that day.

So Skipper, Kowalski and Rico went back to their bunks to sleep while Private insisted on staying beside the girl for the rest of the night, watching her sleep a fitful sleep. They were all on high alert.


	7. New Day

**Girl chappy 7**

**New Day**

**As always, thankies to reviewers!: Kukipye, iheartchocolates, fox tamer 113, Eternally Ebony, AnnaConda1209, VivianShadowGirl, InternetGirl123,From Darkness and Light, Princess Daisy - Best Princess, LM1991, Zyar, PerryRocks-Wolf Warrior, lovingSkipper, XmenTmnt97, RandomPerson123, MonkeyLucy, xXxPOMROXMAHSOXGIRL227xXx, uLtimatekowaLskiLuvr,and ruthc93!**

**Okay, the names that you peeps like are: Willow, Olive, Alexa, Ash, Bree, Paige, Emily, Kit, Hope, Charlie, Mia, Dakota, Emma, Angel and Jewel. Now out of these 15, choose your top 2 or 3, and from there, I will use the most popular five and put them in a poll on my profile in the next chappy. The reason I didn't put it in a poll in the first place is because there were too many at first...hee hee.**

**Sorry I've taken so long to update! Again...BUT my mom hates it when I use too much computer time, I have homework, I type slowly, and exams start tomorrow! *SCREAMS***

**AND I know I don't advertise much, but mutated-ducks-rule and I started a collab called Skilight! It's a Twilight version of PoM, and in the crossover section right now. I wrote the first chapter, she's writing the next, and we edit each others writing XD I think it's awesome...go check it out! (advertisement ends)**

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When the girl woke up in the morning, the penguins offered her cereal. When Private came back to where she was sitting at the stone table (which was a bit too small for her) with a carton of milk, he found that she had already crushed all her cheerios in her red bowl with the back of her hands. He blinked in surprise a little bit, but didn't really care about that trivial matter as long as the girl looked calm and comfortable. Private made it entirely his job to keep her happy, and she seemed content for now as ran her finger against the side of the bowl in order for it to pick up the cereal dust and lick it.

Private joined the girl at the table to keep her company. Skipper was drinking his fish coffee above the penguin's habitat. Rico was digging through the pile of fish before him near the bunks, and Kowalski was in his lab. Everything was peaceful.

Suddenly, Kowalski busted in. "Okay, I have an idea," he announced. "In order to know what to do with the human girl next, I have the perfect question implied to bring us to the next step." He started for the speak n spell resting against the TV.

Private frowned at this. "K'walski, can't we wait until AFTER she's done with her breakfast and ready to do anything else? I still haven't cleaned her up yet. Her hair is messy and her clothes are rumpled." He frowned harder. "And don't talk about her like she's some kind of experiment!"

"Well, don't talk about her like she's some doll!"

"I wasn't!"

"Were too!"

The girl could see the two penguins looking angry at each other and shouting out high-pitched squeaks. She figured they were arguing, and felt surprised. "No," she said. "No!" She said a bit louder.

Private and Kowalski stopped. "I think it would be a good time to do it now," Kowalski said as reasonably as he could. He picked up the speak n spell and waddled over to the girl who had stopped touching her cereal and instead was staring at the tall penguin she remembered had the weird name.

Taking a deep breath, Kowalski typed out something on the electronic device. Instantly, words flashed across the screen and a mechanical voice said Where is your mom and dad?

Private's eyes lit up in surprise over that question. "Of course!" He breathed. "Why didn't we think of that before? Then we would have been over with this intorrogation last night!"

The little girl furrowed her eyebrows over that question. She felt a little bit confused, but whispered "Mommy?"

Private nodded, encouraging the girl to speak more.

"Mommy!" The girl repeated. Then her whole body started to tremble. "Mommy…."

Just then Skipper dropped through the hatchhole. "What's going on now?"

But everyone was focused on the girl, who was quaking hard enough to rock the HQ. "Mommy! NO NO NO!" She instantly felt anger and fear and fury and terror at the 'm' word. She suddenly had a flashback of her mother whispering icy words in her ear right before a branding iron struck her back and a scorching flame seared across her skin. She had been feeling fine one moment, but now thanks to the penguins, they had to go and make her remember her past (not like she had forgotten it…it had lingered near the back of her mind like a dark, cruel shadow).

Then her strong feelings collided and practically blinded her vision as she lifted up her cereal bowl with one hand and hurled it towards a far wall. The bowl smashed into the wall and fell onto the floor, shattering into little pieces. Then the girl dived under the table.

Everything was frozen in shock for a moment.


	8. Next Step

**Girl chappy 8 Next Step**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thank you to reviewers!: InternetGirl123, fox tamer 113, Zyar, MonkeyLucy, Kukipye, ruthc93, 17Bubbleslove, AnnaConda1209, Eternally Ebony, VivianShadowGirl, PerryRocks- Wolf Warrior, SunflowerIce, and LM1991. There was one anonymous reviewer who just left spaces where the name should be, so I didn't count him...no likeys!**

**If you don't already know, I have 99 reviews at the moment, so the first person to review this chappy will be the 100th reviewer, and that person will get a giant virtual cookie!**

**Poll is up in my profile. Go vote for your favorite name.**

Private tried to coax the girl to come out from under the table, while Rico went to clean up the plastic–ahem, ceramic–bowl pieces. Skipper stood in contemplation, his non-existent eyebrows furrowed. Kowalski frantically jotted things down on his clipboard. "Eureka!" He announced. "That incident definitely brought us to the next step."

"So what's the next step?" Private asked, still trying to get the girl out. She was being very stubborn and scared, and shaking her head in fear, with tears flowing from her frantic, shifting eyes.

"Well, it's so obvious the girl wants her parents back," Kowalski replied. "She's still unused to this different environment, and the longing for somewhere she feels more comfortable in has made this little girl really emotional." He looked satisfied with his answer. "So now we just have to bring her back to her parents, duh! We should have done that at the very beginning."

"Are you sure?" Skipper frowned. "Something's fishy…and I don't mean Rico. For one thing, this girl is not like any other little girl. She looks poor, small and scrawny, not healthy and happy and mischievous like other kids. She's not even pretty."

"Well, what other answer do you have?" Kowalski challenged. No one liked to be disagreed with. "No? I didn't think so!"

"Huw to find 'rents?" Rico grunted.

"Easy. We just have to look at the zoo camera footage from yesterday to the point where we saw the girl and her parents. That way we know how the parents or parent looks like. That way I'll be able to…" Kowalski blabbered on about how to do it.

"Right." Skipper said once he was done talking. "Then we can bring the girl back to her guardians. Okay, then. Private, you stay here and clean the girl up. Rico well help and keep an eye out for any more outbursts. Kowalski and I will go to the zoo office to hack in the zoo camera footage."

And they all went off to do as Skipper instructed.

"You can come out now," Private said to the girl once the other two had left. "It's okay. No one will hurt you or anything. We're going to get you back to your parents!"

The girl refused to come out.

"Okay, we need a new plan," Private sighed. "Rico, I need a stuffed animal."

Rico puked out a cute Mort doll, and pushed it into the direction of the girl. The girl glanced at it curiously. It was cuter than the toy before. She liked it, and wanted it. Plus, never had she been given two gifts in less than twenty-four hours.

Slowly, slowly she crawled out and grabbed it and hugged it to her scrawny chest. Private smiled. Presents always hooked kids. Finally, they could start to clean her, or at least make her less dirty.

They used the plushie to slowly drag her to the bathroom and got started.

**I'm still advertising the story Skilight. Again, it's a Twilight version of PoM, written by mutated-ducks-rule and I, and it's in the crossover section.**

**Anyways, review!**


	9. Clean Up

**Girl chappy 9: Clean Up**

**By Eppogirl**

**Thankies to reviewers!: Zyar, LM1991, Eternally Ebony, iheartchocolates, InternetGirl123 (sorry for the misunderstanding), Anna of the Condas 1209, 17Bubbleslove, VivianShadowGirl, MonkeyLucy, Kukipye (suck it up. Bleh XD), and Rookie70Penguin (thankies for the ideas/tips)! **** You guys just made my review section go up in triple digits! Now let's aim for quadruple digits! (JK.)**

**And special thanks to Zyar for being my 100th reviewer! HUZZAH! *random confetti* Here's a giant virtual cookie to youuu! *hands you cookie***

**Truly, thanks to every reviewer–and even non-reviewers–which pretty much means all my readers–for reading mah story(ies)! You guys are the best. And now that exams are over, I can update all my stories quicker!**

**BTW, the story Skilight (by mutated-ducks-rule and I, in the crossover section) got updated! Find out what Marlene thinks about the lemurs XD.**

**This is sorta like a filler chapter...it was originally going to be a songfic chapter, but then I realized the song I chose wouldn't really work.**

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The girl was currently in a sullen mood, though her anger about her mother had been patted down already. However, she kept twisting her head this way or that in defiance so Private couldn't brush her hair properly.

"Please hold still!" He begged.

So she held still. The girl kinda knew what the penguins were talking about these days. At the moment, she was staring at her reflection through a pink hand mirror. Her reflection stared back with big, sulking eyes, a bit red from crying. She was sitting on a little mat in another gray concrete room, with drawers all around. She, Private and Rico had taken a secret elevator down to this room; the two penguins had agreed that she _wasn't _indeed a spy, so they let her get into their hidden lift.

Her dirt-colored hair was straight and neat now. It still wasn't pretty, because it hadn't been washed in a long time. Private started to French braid it anyways, humming the whole time as the girl fidgeted, trying to stay as still as possible. Truly, she wanted to throw something to let her anger out. But fear kept her in place.

There was a _ting! _as Rico exited the elevator into the room. The girl's eyes instantly flicked towards the noise in natural instinct, and followed Rico as he approached them. He had left a few minutes before to do who-knows-what. Now he was back, and holding a bucket of freezing cold water he had collected from the penguin's pool. He smiled broadly and stood in front of the other two for a moment.

Then he proceeded to dump the whole pail of water on the girl.

"RICO!" Private exclaimed as the girl shrieked, her fury growing out and up again. In a rage, her legs shot out and kicked Rico towards a nearby drawer.

"Aweofheisdufhefif!" He shouted out as he collided with the drawer and flumped onto the ground.

The girl screamed again, instantly feeling the uncomfortable feeling when about half of your body is soaking wet while the other half had somehow managed to remain completely dry. Private tried to calm her down but only got whacked away. Her hair and clothes clung to her skin. It was suddenly freezing in the room. She got up and started running around, trying to wipe the water away. Private and Rico ran and slid after her around the room.

"Why did you pour the whole bucket of water on her?" Private scolded.

Rico shrugged sheepishly. He wanted to get her clean, and the way he had just dumped the whole pail of water on the girl was usually how he took his own shower.

So Private told him to regurgitate a tub and get it ready, while he himself kept up with the girl, trying to calm her down. He was never giving up in making the girl happy.

Soon, the girl grew tired of running, stumbling and flailing, and squeezed herself between two drawers. Private caught up with her and sighed. She was a mess once more. He would have to brush her hair again.

Rico hollered something from across the room. The tub was ready! They got her across the room and into the tub. Finally, some real cleaning up.

Also, Rico lent his dolly to the girl to play with in apology. It was still really hard to share his doll girlfriend, but now the girl was happy and calm once more. (again! What up with the emotional roller coaster?)


	10. Camera Footage

**Girl chappy 10: Camera Footage**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Yeah! I made it to the 10****th**** chapter!**

**Thanks to reviewers: MonkeyLucy, Eternally Ebony, Kukipye, Zyar, 17Bubbleslove, InternetGirl123, Fauna1209 AC1209, and Byakuyafan1!**

**Right now as I view my poll, the name Hope is in first place, followed by Dakota, Willow and Faith, which are all tied for second! Angel is in third. Okay, then.**

* * *

"Status report, Kowalski," Skipper demanded as he paced Alice's desk, flicking glances at the six TV screens next to the desk that displayed all that the cameras of the zoo had to show.

"I'm almost there," Kowalski muttered as he tried to click and hack his way into the zoo camera footage history file. On one more click, he was able to come to a page that presented a list of the names of all six cameras, and if you clicked on one camera number, it would tell you all the information about it. "Finally! Now I just have to sift through ALL these files, and rewind them to yesterday so we can fast forward to the point where the girl was left behind." He paused, and stared at all six numbers and zoo cameras. "Uh, this is going to take a while."

Back in the HQ, the girl was having some fun playing with Rico's doll. She took up the challenge of twisting the doll's head, no matter how much the plastic toy resisted.

A few moments later in Alice's office, Kowalski was having a tedious time fast-forwarding through the events of yesterday in zoo camera one, which was positioned to look at the zoo entrance and fountain. Nothing at nine hundred hours. Ten hundred hours. Eleven hundred. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. That meant four o clock now, and still nothing. The penguins had spent the whole day yesterday doing their smile and wave routine, so they had not noticed any girl as they were too busy.

Finally, fast forwarding at seventeen hundred hours, Kowalski spotted her. "Skipper!" He called to his captain who was watching the door in case any humans or certain lemurs decided to interrupt their work.

Skipper hopped onto the desk. "Have you found it?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay, press play."

And so they stared at the first screen, watching the girl and her mother walk into the zoo.

"Well, now we know how her mother looks like, I believe." Skipper stated.

"Yes sir."

"We also know what time they visited."

"That too, sir."

They continued to stare at the woman, who looked normal enough and could blend in with the crowd. Still, something seemed off about her.

"Alright, let's find out the rest of the information."

"Yes sir!" He got to work to typing away again. They had a lead, and he knew just where to follow it.

_Later…_

They were now done, and they headed back to the HQ together. Both were content and satisfied with their new information.

"Wait–are you sure about the info, Kowalski?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure I knowher street address now. She'll be back home in no time, and happy ending!"

They both hopped into the HQ.

Meanwhile, in the concrete room with drawers, the girl twisted Rico's doll's head one last time with all her might.

There was a _pop_ soundand a crazy penguin's scream could be heard all the way up to Skipper and Kowalski.

* * *

**Review!**


	11. Time To Go Out

**Girl chappy 11**

**By EppogirlXD**

**As always, thanks to reviewers!: Kukipye, Eternally Ebony, 17Bubbleslove, InternetGirl123, MonkeyLucy, VivianShadowGirl, AnnaConda1209, EaterOfWaffles, iheartchocolates, and Rookie70Penguin! This chapter wouldn't be up here without you guys ^_^**

**NEWZ: Looks like fanfiction updated or something :D when I logged in it looked so different! Oh, and they changed how we PM to a new platform, so that's a bit annoying -_-**

* * *

Skipper and Kowalski walked into the room with drawers to see Rico holding his doll's body and the separate head tightly, the dripping wet girl, and Private standing between the two.

"What happened?" Skipper and Kowalski asked at the same time, even though it was a bit obvious with the way Rico was clutching his doll and it's head like it was the only thing keeping him alive, and the girl trying to reach for it screaming, "Mine! Mine!"

Rico was also growling.

"There, there, darling, it's okay," Private soothed.

Skipper and Kowalski came and pulled Rico and the girl further away from each other, causing the girl to bawl even more. So Private tried to comfort her while Kowalski helped Rico pop the doll's head back on.

It turned out giving the girl toys and treats a lot was starting to make her a little spoiled. The penguins didn't know yet that girl didn't get many treats back where she lived, but right now they knew that they had to correct her from thinking that she would get whatever she wanted in their home.

Private had to calm the girl down again with Skipper and Kowalski keeping an eye out on her and Rico, who was soothing his own doll while throwing dirty looks at the girl. Rico wasn't liking kids very much at all.

Finally, the girl was calm and Private had cleaned her up, making her look actually presentable enough.

"Are you ready to go home?" Private asked, smiling. He made the speak n spell repeat what he said.

The girl was a bit hesitant, but then grinned, too. They had gone back up into their HQ once more, and she was looking into a full-length mirror, kind of pleased with what she saw. Neat, pretty jacket, clean pants, and, oh look, white shoes! She had forgotten the shoe's true colors a long time ago. Her hair was also in a neat and pretty French braid, and her gigantic eyes shone. Yep, she looked passable. She could have blended in with a lot of kids her age.

"You did good, Private," Skipper approved.

Private blushed modestly.

"Thankies, Private!" The girl giggled. "I go home now!"

Are you surprised that the girl is actually eager to go home? But it's true–she is. I know you're thinking of her mother as some big, wicked monster. But she wasn't like that all the time to her daughter. Her daughter sometimes loved her mother very much. Her mother sometimes tucked her in bed, cooked her good meals, brush her hair, read her books, and took care of her like any devoted mother.

But even more often, she _was _the evil woman you think she is. She beat her child, exposed her to unspeakable things, manipulated her and made her starve, suffer and cringe in pain for days. Many times the mother would just abandon her–either by leaving the house for days or just crash out on her bed and the girl had to take care of herself. In fact, frequently the girl had to take care of her mother instead of the other way around.

In their apartment, the line that separated good and bad was extremely blurry. Her mother was dangerous and very, very unpredictable. This made the girl scared, angry, and sad, deep down inside.

But the penguins knew nothing of this at all.

Yet.

Outside, the day had already started hours ago. People were already visiting the zoo. In the HQ, Skipper instructed each of his teammates on what to do in Operation: Bring The Girl Back Home.

They followed out his orders and everybody filed out of a secret exit into the bustle of the zoo day, with the four penguins stacked on top of each other inside of a gray buttoned-up coat with a hat and mechanical arms, which was their disguise as a human. In the order from top to bottom in the stack was Skipper, who was standing on Private who was standing on top of Kowalski who was standing on Rico who was at the very bottom. Skipper ordered Rico on where to walk, Private manipulated the mechanical arms, Kowalski told Skipper the directions and Rico moved and carried them all.

The girl stared in wonder at their disguise. It looked just like they had transformed into a mysterious man. Then Private peeked out from between a crack between two buttons, gave her a reassuring smile and held out the mechanical hand he operated. The girl smiled and took it. They headed for the zoo exit hand in hand and then into the New York City streets where the girl had been just the day before.

They were on their way.


	12. Homecoming

**Girl chappy 12**

**As always and forever, thankies to reviewers!: 17Bubbleslove(you are welcome), VivianShadowGirl (same here), Eternally Ebony, InternetGirl123, MonkeyLucy, Kukipye (I know that ;)), lovingSkipper (I think so. The most popular name is Hope so far. Like, HOPEfully everyone agrees with that name), Whisper of the Moonlight River, and DrunkenTavern (OMG that's so sweet XD)! **

**And I haven't been updating so much because I had recently gotten writer's block for all three of my current stories. And I mean this one, and both the humanized one. Finally, I got over this one, but not the other two maybe because the other two's next chapters contain songs which I rarely do, so it is hard XP**

The penguins and the girl were now walking the busy NYC sidewalks, the girl gripping tightly to the mechanical one and looking around, staring at all the familiar streets she had seen just the day before. The people seemed the same, too –all of them hurrying to a known destination to work or somewhere else, all looking straight ahead and not caring about each other. They didn't even notice or seem to care the girl or a suspicious-looking man beside her, cutting their way through the crowds, also having a known destination.

The girl was glad that this time, she didn't have to trail someone in fear while trying not to get stepped on at the same time. Now she could relax a very little bit and look around with her big eyes as the penguins pulled her along, weaving through the people for her. She also felt fresher and cleaner, which was also a nice feeling. But still. She kept a high alert like always, not ever letting her guard down or else there might be consequences.

Finally, the penguins stopped in front of a dingy apartment. The girl looked up at the apartment, familiarity shining through her eyes.

"This is it," Skipper said. Finally. Another of their many missions about to be completed. They would leave the girl to where she belonged, and then moved on with their lives.

Private smiled sadly. Even when this was done, he knew he would always remember the girl, even if everyone else forgot.

They then moved forward into the building. The building seemed really…old and dirty. Inside, it was a bit dark with no windows and only one little yellow light swinging from the ceiling, so they stood there in the doorway for a bit to let their eyes ajust. The place that they had just stepped into seemed like a main lobby area, but small for one. There was a door and a flight of stairs off to the side. A cabinet was sat on the other side.

Then both the penguins and girls started walking up the stairs. Since the building only had four floors, it didn't need an elevator. Everyone took the stairs.

The stairs were even filthier than the lobby. Filled with trash and stains. Private was beginning to get nervous. "Kowalski, are you sure this was the right address?"

Below him Kowalski frowned. He was just as nervous as Private when he peeked through the buttons in the coat to take a look at the place. "I think so…"

They continued climbing the stairs to the third storey. The girl was now practically pulling ahead of the boys as they reached the final landing. Once at the third storey, they could see that there were three doors. Two were apartments and the third was a storage closet of some sort. The place was still as dim and grimy here, with the wallpaper so torn up and stained and faded that they could barely make out what pattern it was. There was a dead potted plant in one corner.

Then, suddenly, one of the apartment doors started to creak open. The penguins and girl ducked behind the plant just as a random man in jeans and a jacket paused in the doorway to talk to someone before walking out and down the steps, not even noticing the penguin's man disguise or the girl.

Once the man left the apartment, a second figure stepped out into the hallway the girl and penguins were in, too. She stood there a bit, holding on to the door's handle and letting more light shine on her from the inside.

Suddenly, the girl whimpered and took a step towards the lady. She recognized that woman, once enough light got out. It was her mother.

Hearing the whimper, the woman suddenly shot her head in their direction.

She spotted her daughter, and surprise took over her face before it transformed into a slow smile.

**Okey...apparently this is not my best chapter.**


	13. Pain

**Girl **

**chappy 13**

**by EppogirlXD**

**We can't live without reviewers! Of course, most of you peeps were worried about that smile...XP: Eternally Ebony, InternetGirl123, 17Bubbleslove, LM1991, VivianShadowGirl, xXxPOMROXMAHSOXGIRL227xXx, MonkeyLucy, Kukipye, DrunkenTavern, and Rookie70Penguin!**

**Okay, just to tell everyone...I'm going to be gone for a week (to vacation in Indonesia), so I might not get to go on the internet at all! (NOOO!) I REALLY can't live without my fanfiction! Anywhos, don't assume I've dropped off the face of fanfiction...yet. XP Meanwhile, don't post any epicly awesome stories till I come back! (on the 23rd).**

**Let's start the story! WARNING: Violence.**

The girl's mother was still surprised and wondering how her daughter had gotten home. But she didn't show any of that shock on her grinning face as she said in a sugar sweet voice: "Hello…honey. Aren't you going to give mommy a hug?"

She spread out her arms.

The girl hesitantly walked forward quickly and embraced her mother. Then her mother shuffled her inside and shut the door.

A moment of silence.

All four penguins said nothing, feeling satisfied that the mission was accomplished, but surprised that it had ended so quickly and weirdly. Well, it wasn't really the ending they expected. Plus there was this weird feeling knocking up in every single one of them.

"Does…anyone else feel that something isn't right?" Skipper asked suspiciously.

"I do," Private frowned. "Why don't we look through a window to see how things are going now? I've always wanted to see a happy reunion."

So they all slipped out of the building and climbed to a third story window that looked into the girl's apartment. Squinching down in a row, they only let their forehead and eyes to see be visible through the window.

Now they could see perfectly what was going on inside even if it was dim. They could also hear what was happening.

_Inside the apartment…_

"How did you come back?" The mother said calmly, but she seemed tense.

"It was the–" The girl started nervously.

"Why don't you help mommy cook?" Her mother interrupted, not caring about her daughter's answer, but still serene.

So the girl followed her mother into the kitchen. The kitchen opened up wide into the living room, so the penguins could still see what was going on.

"Get the tomato soup," the woman instructed, turning on the stove, and pointing to the cabinet where the soup was stored in.

The girl obediently opened the cabinet. But once she looked inside, she saw the whole cabinet was empty. Not a thing in sight.

"Uh…" She froze, hands shaking.

Should she tell her mother there was no more? Sometimes her mother would just wave away the inconvenience. Or yell at her. Sometimes, her mother would want her to bring something else instead, screaming "Well, we're gonna need SOMETHING to eat, you idiot! Don't show me those empty hands! Go find something else! You don't need me to tell you what to do all the time!" Other times, if she DID take something different, the woman will yell "That was NOT what I asked for! Can't you ever listen?" or take the item without a word.

All that could happen at any mood at any time. See how unpredictable the woman could be?

She decided to risk giving her mother something else. She quickly opened another cabinet and pulled out a can of peas and then showed it to her mother. "No more soup," the girl stammered.

The woman frowned slightly, taking the peas. "Why not?" She murmured. She still seemed calm. The girl was relieved. She was pretty sure now that her mother wouldn't get mad.

Then suddenly, the mother swung out with the can in hand, and slammed the container of peas on the side of the girl's head, making her fall onto the floor with pain in her head and shock written all over her face.

"WHY didn't you tell me at first, then? I don't need no stinkin' peas!" The woman raged.

The girl started to back away, but then the mother wrenched her up by the arms like a rag doll and shoved her on the stove, which, um, _was still on_. The woman was screaming now and the girl was crying and struggling to get away from the hot flames and metals of the stove that were searing and scorching her with even more pain. It hurt so bad.

But her mother kept on beating her up even as she struggled. A slap here, a punch there, a twist on that arm to keep her in place…every second a new pain blossomed. So she cried. And the woman started using the can of peas to beat her again. They both screamed, the mother hollering a whole dictionary of swear words. Then they locked eyes through the tears and her mother grew so extremely mad that she yanked her daughter up again and then threw her to the far wall.

"_YOU FOOL!_"

The girl smashed onto the wall and crumpled to the ground, her vision swimming with tears and blackness creeping in. All kinds of very strong emotions were spinning around like a tornado inside of her. Her head pounded like a drum. Pain screamed out of every cell in her body.

She saw four black-and-white figures fly through the window before she grew fully unconscious.


	14. Hopeful Lullaby

**Girl chappy 14**

**By EppogirlXD (pronounced ehp-poh-gurl-ex-dee)**

**As always, thankies to reviewers, and all the views you shared in the last chapter :) : ML, 17Bubbles, Annaconda, Anna, Ebby, Rookie, lovingSkipper, sudor, Kuki, Tropical Peach XD, mutated, and Byak. XD I was too lazy to type it all out or copy and paste, so go look at those nicknames, figure out which one is you and don't get mad at me!**

**There is a song contained in this chapter, it is Lonely Lullaby by Owl City. So of course I don't own it. It's so obvious. The only time if I bring this sort of thing up will only be announcing that I actually DO own it. So. Yeah. No writing disclaimers for me. It will sound real nice and sad and beautiful if you play the song and read at them same time.**

"**Sometimes the people who mean you harm are the ones who say they love you"– Nancy Werlin, **_**The Rules Of Survival**_

* * *

**Penguins' POV**

The penguins had been watching through the window the whole time, and could also see their way into the kitchen.

"There's still something not quite right about this," Skipper had said.

All had been silent.

They were blown with shock when they had witnessed the mother hit the child with a can of peas (PEAS!), feeling like they had been hit, too. After that Private's eyes had been covered for the rest of the torture. Then they had all come out of their shocked frozen state to instantly know that this was no ordinary mom-spanking-child-for-doing-something-naughty kind of thing, because, oh no, this was what everyone knows as _child abuse_.

What really woke them up from shock was when the mother had thrown her daughter to the wall and then screamed: "I LOVE YOU, YOU KNOW? I ONLY DO WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU! AND YET YOU REFUSE TO COOPERATE AND INSTEAD GIVE ME TROUBLE! I ONLY DO WHAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU! I'M ONLY GIVING YOU WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR WHAT YOU DID! THIS IS ALL YOUR OWN FAULT! I ONLY LOVE YOU!"

That, my readers, then is some twisted love.

Then penguins had been so filled to the brim with anger and hatred, and then they flew through the window and onto the scene. Ready to attack. Rico had instantly knocked the woman out while Kowalski bounced up to a telephone on a high shelf and dialed 911 (unlike in Singapore where we use 999 but that is not the point!) somehow informing the police about what had happened. Private had slid over to the little girl feeling sorry and sad and devastated for her and had not recovered from the shock that had shattered his innocence.

The girl had been unconscious and battered and bruised, so after Rico and Kowalski did what they did and Private suddenly decided to go back to the unconscious woman and kick her on the leg with all his rage for some random reason, all four penguins gently picked the girl up and left, letting the police come and figure everything else out by themselves.

Now they were all huddled in a small, narrow alleyway one building over, hiding behind piles of stinky trash and other junk, hearing the sirens and the flashing lights nearby. They had to have the girl wake up before they brought her somewhere else, because it was suspicious to have a girl passed out in a mysterious suited man arms walking the streets, leaving a crime scene behind.

Suddenly, an old, thrown away radio perched on top of a pile of trash crackled with life. Then it started to play a sad, beautiful song.

_Symphony of silver tears,_

_Sing to me and sooth the ring in my ears,_

_Overcast these gloomy nights wear on,_

_But I'm holding fast because it's darkest just before the dawn._

None of the feelings in that alley were happy or good. These feelings were also amplified by the song. Everyone just kind of stood there in a tense silence, refusing to believe that there is a bad side to the world, and treating to the girl's wounds gently and with care as she stayed in the darkness that seemed to refuse to let her float into consciousness.

_I sang my princess fast asleep,_

_'Cause she was my dream come true,_

_Oh Annmarie, believe me, I loved you._

Private was taking all of this the worst. It was like he had become a changed person in that last few moments when everything had gone wrong and the world as he knew it had twisted upside down. "That wasn't right!" he exclaimed, and started to weep, and let me tell you, it is _impossible_ for penguins to produce tears but suddenly Private had made it all possible.

_But now those lonely lullabies,_

_Just dampen my tired eyes,_

_Because I can't forget you,_

_Because I can't forget you._

"It never was, young Private," Skipper said in sorrow, suddenly just realizing that Private wasn't as young as he just said.

"This girl," Kowalski whispered, "she has been condemned to an almost endless punishment by the very person who should have cared for her the most*…"

_I'll dissolve when the rain pours in,_

_When the nightmares take me,_

_I will scream with the howling wind,_

_'Cause it's a bitter world and I'd rather dream._

"I can't believe it," Rico said.

_Dizzy love turned a star lily pink,_

_And hung above our lids too flushed to blink,_

_But icy blue froze the fairytale cold,_

_Though I treasured you and you sparkled with someone to hold._

"And, apparently, I think now would be a nice time to come up with a name for her," Kowalski said nervously, hoping that his statement wouldn't interupt the beautifulness and pureness of this scene.

_I sang my princess fast asleep,_

_'Cause she was my dream come true,_

_Oh Annmarie, believe me, I loved you._

"So, what name?" Rico asked.

_But now those lonely lullabies,_

_Just dampen my tired eyes,_

_Because I can't forget you._

_Because I can't forget you._

"It has to be the perfect one," Skipper said surely.

There was a long silence as they all contemplated.

_I'll dissolve when the rain pours in,_

_When the nightmares take me,_

_I will scream with the howling wind,_

_'Cause it's a bitter world and I'd rather dream._

_I'll dissolve when the rain pours in,_

_When the nightmares take me,_

_I will scream with the howling wind,_

_'Cause it's a bitter world and I'd rather dream._

_And I'd rather dream._

And suddenly the gods gave it to them, the perfect name. Private sighed and gently brushed the girl's hair back from her face.

_Annmarie, I'll never forget you._

_Annmarie, I'll never forget you._

_Annmarie, remember me?_

_I'll never forget you._

_Annmarie, remember me?_

_I'll never forget you._

"Her name is Hope," he said finally, without doubt.

_And please Hope, remember me?_

_I'll never forget you._

Then Hope's eyelids started to flutter open like butterfly wings at the sound of her brand new name.

* * *

**And now you have found out her name :)**

***That was a quote from the book **_**Damaged**_** by Cathy Glass, with little variations.**

**Review please :)**


	15. Take A Dip

**Girl chapter 15**

**By EppogirlXD**

**All kinds of thanks to reviewers!: Kuki, Anna, Ebby, 17Bubbles, Vivian, ML, LM1991, and lovingSkipper!**

It was noon. Hope was now sleeping soundly back in their HQ. She had woken up disoriented in the alley, and cried for her mother, blinking sleep from her eyes. The penguins had been horrified. Why would Hope want to see her mother after what she had done to her? It appeared that she hadn't really understood that what had happened to her was a bad thing. She had only recognized her mother, whom she had known her whole life, as her only source of survival and anchor to this world. Nobody else had given her food and protection, and she hadn't known anyone else could. Until now.

So after that they had gone back to the zoo (in which they had to go into through a secret entrance to arrive inside so no one would get suspicious or anything), Hope had collapsed on an air mattress Rico regurgitated and dozed off into a nap.

Private had been a bit concerned back when he was cleaning her up to bring her back 'home', but now he realized and worried even more about all the previous visible healing bruises and cuts he had seen on her before. He had hoped that the beating he had witnessed had been the first and only time for her. But now he knew that the child abuse had happened many, many times before, some far worse than what he'd seen today, and that was unacceptable. He hoped that evil woman would stay in jail for a very long time. He wanted to crush her up and stomp her down! Heck, there might even have been other people alongside her mother who had caused Hope harm. She was an innocent, naïve little girl who didn't deserve all that abuse. They were cruel, ruthless people. He wanted to make them_ suffer_!

Suddenly, he couldn't believe the thoughts that he was thinking. They were the worst and most vile thoughts that had ever entered his mind. He started to feel himself tear up again. So this was what it felt like to lose a bit of your innocence in a flash. It felt shocking and unbelievable for someone like him.

Private sat next to the girl on the mattress, staring. Kowalski was in his lab at the moment, and Rico was at the Zoovenir shop, searching for more plushies. Skipper was looking at Private in concern. "Private, maybe you need a little fresh air and a swim to clear your thoughts. Do you want to go outside? I'll stay here and watch her."

Private looked up at Skipper, worry and relief written all over his face. He was worried for Hope, but was glad he would now have some time to think outside and away from his concern all by himself. He realized that that was all he needed all along, since they had rescued Hope.

So he agreed with Skipper and waddled outside and onto their platform in their habitat. It was still opening hours and visitors were wandering about and looking in habitats. They were the least of his concerns, so he ignored them; to him they were invisible and nonexistent.

He jumped into the pool and only focused on his thoughts, not the visitors watching him. The cool water was refreshing, and soon his thoughts slipped to the back of his mind as he enjoyed the swimming, falling into a calm lull, only concentrating on the flow of the water and the propelling of his body through it. It was relaxing and beautiful. He swam for as long as he wanted, reluctant to part with the water and into the reality of the moment.

But he had to get out sooner or later anyways. Once he jumped out of the water, he noticed that it was closing time as he saw Alice starting to push people out of the zoo. He sighed and went back down into the lair.

There, he was suddenly faced with more horrid news.

**Dun dun DUN! Cliffie. Guess what's the horrid news?**


	16. Escaped

**Girl chappy 16**

**By EppogirlXD**

**I bet you guys are all very curious about the horrid news huh? XD I left a cliffhanger so your imaginations could go wild on that idea.: Kuki, Ebby, Anna, sk, lovingSkipper, Vivian, Bubbles, ML, and AnnaConda!**

Private went down the hatch hole feeling very content after that little swim. He felt refreshed. All that changed when he saw Skipper and Kowalski waiting nervously before him once he hopped off the ladder. Behind them was Hope, who was still sleeping on the air mattress, with Rico sitting beside her. His indifference to her seemed to have vanished, but it was not like he had an overly affectionate view of her like Private did. Still, Private could see that something was wrong right now, as the three penguins looked agitated.

"What's going on?" He asked, dread building up within him.

"Uh, Private, we have no idea how you will react to this, but…" Kowalski told him what happened.

Private stared. And stared. It looked like Hope's and their nightmare wasn't over yet. "What do you mean Hope's mother escaped the police?"

"It means that the woman got away from the clutches of justice," Skipper confirmed, sort of uncomfortably.

"Yes, I know, but," Private grabbed the feathers on his head, already stressed out again. His swim hadn't prepared him for this. "But how?" He had been so sure that the police would easily catch her.

"They knew that she was guilty, of multiple crimes, apparently, but she managed to get out of the polices' hold. Apparently, she had a 'friend' who helped her slither away. Rico heard about it all on the news." Rico nodded wildly, agreeing with Kowalski's statement. "Now, the authorities think she has either escaped to either Russia or Canada." His voice turned bitter. "Then the news switched to some 'ground-breaking' news, as if this new information wasn't breaking enough…"

"Canada, huh?" Skipper mused. "Where the fake girlfriends live. Yep, my gut tells me she went there." His eyes suddenly took on a look of pure determination, like he was going to go on a mission at any second.

"Wait, we aren't really going to search for Hope's mother, are we?" Private asked, panicking.

Both Kowalski and Skipper looked incredulously at him. "Of course not!" Skipper replied. "We don't even have and intel on where to look for her. In addition, we still have to care for Hope."

"Oh, yes, yes," Private looked relieved. But he was still worried. That woman was still on the loose. Hope was probably not safe. Then again, she never had been, and might never be completely safe. Suddenly, for the first time since they had taken Hope back to the HQ, Private really wondered about her future. Could the penguins really keep her protected, and out of harm's way? What were they going to do with Hope? Private walked over to the girl and sat down right beside her and Rico sadly. He patted her on the back, staring off into space, wondering how the future would turn out.

"Tomorrow," Rico suddenly spoke up,seeming to hear Private's thoughts.

"Yes, tomorrow," Skipper agreed. "We can figure things out tomorrow. There's always a tomorrow." They all shared a comforting smile.

Right then, someone decided to bust into the HQ for the first time in the whole story.

"Hey, guys! Just wanting to drop by –whoa! Did you know that you have a young human girl in your HQ?"


	17. Tantrum

**Girl Chappy 17**

**By EppogirlXD**

**To the reviewers!: Anna (is THIS chapter long enough for you, huh, punk?XD), Bubbles, LM1991, Ebby (me too), lovingSkipper (thank you for the idea! I'm not going to use it, but it shall be mentioned. :)), sk, Kukipye (too bad XD), and Vivian!**

Marlene had an _unbelievable! _look etched all over her face. The penguins, standing around Hope, all had _no duh_ expressions on_ their_ faces. Hope began to stir in her sleep, no doubt about to wake up.

"Uh, anyone want to explain what is going on?" Marlene asked cautiously. Her eyes were locked on the girl.

"That," Skipper replied, "is classified."

Then Hope woke up, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. She started whimpering for her mother again.

"You stole a little girl from her mother?" exclaimed Marlene, jumping to conclusions.

"Wha––no no, no!" Private yelped.

So then he had to tell Marlene the whole story. Marlene nodded the whole time. By the time he finished, Hope was fully awake and had begun to stare back at Marlene.

"Teddy!" She lurched forward suddenly reached for Marlene. But the penguins were quick enough to hold her back, and Marlene jumped away. Hope wailed and started to throw a tantrum, demanding for the 'teddy'.

"She's a tiny bit spoiled," Kowalski admitted. "But then again, what little kid isn't?"

"I want my mommy!" Hope screeched.

Marlene looked confused. "Wait, if the mother was mean to her, why does she still want her?"

"We have absolutely no idea, Marlene," Skipper said.

"But I think it might because the mother was mean some times and nice other times," Kowalski said.

"Unpredictable," Rico added in a grunt.

A few more questions came after that, and Marlene finally asked, "so, what are you going to do with her now?"

"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Private piped out.

He had finally managed to get Hope to start playing with Rico's dolly, and made sure there would be no more head detachments this time. Rico still looked nervous about it, though.

They all started throwing around ideas about what to do with Hope, sounding exactly like parents discussing their kid's future.

"We could turn her into an penguin or an otter using an invention of mine," Kowalski offered, looking hopeful.

But Skipper frowned. "Negative, Kowalski, you would think the zoo overlords would notice a new penguin or otter."

"_And_ Hope has to be _willing_, too," Private said pointedly. Even though he knew the other penguins cared for the girl too, he didn't like it when they talked about her like she was some kind of object sometimes. Like she didn't have any choices or opinions. Like only her future mattered. _We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that she is someone today. _Random quote.

"Private is right," Marlene agreed.

Private added, "It sounds even worse than going to Canada to try to track the woman down…"

Kowalski looked a bit upset that his idea had been rejected. "Fine."

They all shared around a few more ideas, but they were almost as ridiculous as Kowalski's.

"Why doesn't she just live here for a while until with find some concrete solution to help her or something?" Marlene finally suggested.

That worked.

So after that, Marlene stuck around to talk for a bit and then went home at around zoo closing time. The HQ became a bit quieter after that. Then Hope spoke up again.

"Why can't I say what I want for my foo-ture?" She mumbled timidly. She began sucking her thumb.

"What?" Private turned around to look at her in surprise. He was stunned that Hope understood what they had been saying, and had actually followed the conversation. Well, at least enough to figure out the topic they were talking about, process it in her head, and ask a question that Private hadn't really thought of yet. He realized that you could never underestimate young children.

"I want my mommy," she said. "I wanna go_ home_."

Private looked at her with gentle eyes. "I'm sorry Hope, but don't you see that your mommy is a monster? Your home is _here_ now."

She stared at him. And then began to throw a tantrum once more, screaming and yelling and practically bringing the HQ roof down. Private and the others worried that the zookeepers outside would hear. It took a while to calm her down again, and then they took her to bed.

But the screaming and yelling didn't stop there. The poor girl's dreams were filled with nightmares, and the whole night was like torture, all until the sun woke up and rose into the sky.

**Suckish chapter...I know. -_-**


	18. Reasons Why

**Girl chapter 18**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: lovingSkipper (thank you so much! Why DO you think she keeps whimpering for her mom?), sk, InternetGirl123 (LOL. XD You punk), 17Bubbleslove, MonkeyLucy, Kukipye (who cares if I got the quote off the coaster!), Eternally Ebony (yeah. well, me neither.), XmenTmnt97, and VivianShadowGirl!**

* * *

The whole week was dreadful. The penguins had to watch over Hope the whole time, and barely had time to do anything else. She had a short attention span and was curious about a lot of the things in the penguin's HQ. She made a lot of disasters, and kept on making the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Once, the penguins had decided that the HQ was a bit too dangerous for her, so they sent her over to Marlene, but the results weren't good. Habitats in a zoo just weren't meant for little human girls. Obviously.

"No, Hope, don't touch that!" Private cried out as she reached for an electrical wire poking out from Kowalski's lab. He dragged her out of the way and to the safety of her bed.

A stuffed pink bunny was there. That was safe. Private sighed in relief. But when Hope grabbed the plushie, a crossbow popped out.

Private shrieked again and flung the whole contraption away. Crossbows flew everywhere. One jabbed the girl. She cried out in pain. Private grabbed the first aid kit leaning on the mattress, and sighed, tired.

No place for a little human girl…

Well, at least Hope finally accepted that she was never going back to her mother again. Maybe she even forgot about her. The penguins didn't really know. She didn't speak much.

After the Hope-choking-on-raw-coffee-fish incident, Skipper put his flipper down. "Okay," he announced when all four penguins and Marlene gathered around the concrete table. Marlene's fur still looked a bit blue from the paint incident. "I've known for a very long time that this would never work out. Hope cannot continue living in our HQ."

Private looked down sadly. It was night. Hope lay on her mattress, wimpering in her sleep. He had also known along that it was too hard for them to keep her in the zoo. But still, he had…hope. (AN: Heheh. Pun. It will probably be used a lot.) There had been a lot of reasons why it wouldn't work. Kowalski promptly began listing down each point.

"Firstly, our job is not to take care of children and/or babies. We are not babysitters."

"We are an elite team of commandos!" Skipper added, as if no one knew.

"Secondly, we cannot keep on putting her before ourselves and the zoo."

"I know," Private sighed. "It's dangerous. We can't focus on that."

"Thirdly, this is no place for a young child."

"You are telling me," Marlene commented. She dusted of some more dried paint off her arm.

"Fourthly, it is busy work."

"TIME WASTED," said Rico.

"Fifthly, not all the zoo residents are happy with this."

"Roger was the next complainer," Private said worriedly. "He can't sleep because of the screaming at night. And that's when he's wearing earmuffs!"

"Sixthly, the zoo keepers are getting suspicious."

"Definitely." Marlene said.

"Eighthly–"

"You mean seventhly," Skipper corrected.

"Oh right," Kowalski said. "There is just so many reasons to why Hope can't stay in the zoo!"

Private looked down at the table sadly.

"Well, seventhly, and to wrap it all up, no one is happy. Even Hope isn't happy…"

Everyone simutaneously looked at her at his words. She was sleeping. No noise this time.

"So what should we do about it?" Private finallly asked.

"Right. Kowalski, options," said Skipper.

"She needs a place where she will be surrounded by humans who can help her, communicate with her and keep her safe." Kowalski paused. "When I was on Alice's computer, I found this thing called..._Social Services_."

**BUM BUM BUM**


	19. Switch of Care

**Girl Chapter 19**

**by EppogirlXD**

**Thank you to reviewers: Kukipye (naughty.), InternetGirl123 (I love that poem thingy!), VivianShadowGirl (same here), 17Bubbleslove (haha. 'hopefully'. Yet another pun.), sk (pun again!), MonkeyLucy (or is it?), Rookie70Penguin (you are so right. Sadly D:), Eternally Ebony (LOL very funny), and lovingSkipper (thank you for your thoughts. They were the same as mine.)!**

* * *

Private trembled inside the penguin's man disguise, even though it wasn't the least bit hot outside. He was sad and scared, sad because Hope was going them, and scared because he didn't know what was to happen in her future. But at least he felt relief in his emotions, glad that she might finally get her happy ending.

He felt déjà vu, too, back in the gray coat, squished between both Skipper and Rico, working the mechanical arms that Hope was clutching onto, once again on a mission. He hoped that the results would be good this time.

For some reason, he felt dread right after that hope fluttered in his mind. It was a premonition, but he didn't know it at that time.

After some extremely quiet time, Rico, who was at the bottom, stopped walking at Kowalski's command. They were in front of a very official-looking building now. Private peeked through the cracks between the buttons to see.

It looked like any typical office building in NYC. Just a tall rectangle block, reaching straight for the sky, glinting in the morning sun, having a no-nonsense air. Private double-checked the sign above the big double doors to make sure it was the right place. The penguins were only a little literate. Private was sure he saw two big 'S's.

They went in. Air conditioning hit them all.

Knowing the risk of how they looked, the penguins tried to appear as normal as possible. But still, people in suits and official-looking cases noticed them, especially with the little girl hanging onto the arm.

They first had to approach the security check area near the entrance, to make sure they weren't an escaped criminal or holding onto an lethal weapons. Well, that couldn't fly with the penguins, with Rico's stomach and all, so they had to leave a knocked-out security officer and tampered-with security camera in their wake.

Everything else that occurred was very solemn. They approached a line in front of a desk with a very grave looking petite lady with hair in a bun behind it. After a while, they made it to the front. There was conversation between the woman and the penguins' speak n spell. After the talk box spoke for a minute, the lady instantly began firing questions. She soon realized that Hope was a ward of the state, and immediately, without warning, got someone to whisked her away for a full examination, just knowing her name and that a mysterious visitor had brought her in.

As Hope started to follow the person who was taking her away, a man in a suit, she turned back to look at the penguins, her brown hair in a nice French braid, her big gray eyes wide. She was even wearing a cute little yellow long-sleeved dress, one Private found for her last week. The penguins figured that she was intelligent enough to know what was happening, but there was confusion on her little face. She didn't understand. She was being switched to so many different people in such a short while. What was going on? Would she ever see the penguins again? "Penguins…" she murmured in a way that only she could hear.

Private lifted a mechanical arm in a mixture of a salute and a wave. Hope, hesitating, gave the same sign back, just as she was taken through another set of doors.

The last thing he saw was sadness in her eyes, reflecting his.


	20. Empty Nest

**Girl chappy 20**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to the reviewers: Anna, Asmith137, VivianShadowGirl, sk, 17Bubbleslove, lovingSkipper, ML, Ebony, and Byakuyafan1!**

**Wow, I actually made it to chapter 20? Yippee! Now we just have 1543225432 more chapters to go…**

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_One week later…_

"Well," Kowalski said as he fell into the HQ from the platform above, "I've been tracking Social Services, and…they found a foster home for Hope yesterday."

"So fast?" Rico croaked at the same time Private exclaimed, "So slow?"

It had been a pretty boring week, all quiet and silent with no little girl or missions. Private kept on feeling like something was missing, and kept on craving to know what was going on with Hope. He had been depressed. He wondered if he was going through empty-nest syndrome.

"Precisely," Kowalski said, though he didn't know which penguin he was talking to. Or maybe it was neither of them. "It's at this apartment address." He flashed a piece of printed paper.

"Well, men, let's go see how she is doing," said Skipper.

Private gulped.

* * *

The four penguins slipped up the fire escape of the apartment building. It was a normal one, looking a lot like a lot like the normal ones in New York City, where normal people had normal lives…so it looked fine.

Soon, they made it up to the seventh floor, where Kowalski was certain where Hope was living now. They looked through the windows: A living room, empty. A kitchen, empty. A study, empty. A bedroom, also empty. No lights were on.

"Well team," Skipper said. "It looks like this foster family is not home at the moment. I wonder where they could be."

Private sighed in disappointment. He had really wanted to see Hope with her better life.

"Eh! Eh!" Rico suddenly protested. He pointed at another window that belonged to the same apartment.

"Rico, if the whole apartment is empty with no electricity running, I'm pretty sure nothing would be living in that room, too," said Kowalski.

Rico didn't listen. Instead, he shoved the other three up to the window.

It was clearly another bedroom. Smaller than the first one. No lights were on. And the only furniture inside were a bed and a table with a plain blue chair against it. But this room had someone in it.

Hope.

She was sitting on the wooden floor, leaning against the bed, with her knees up and her small arms propped on them. She seemed to be deep in thought, staring at the white wall across from her. She was in jeans and a plain white shirt and her brown hair was everywhere.

"What's going on?" Private wondered. Why was she the only one in the whole dark, quiet apartment?

Rico tried to open the window but it was jammed shut. There were also bars against it. But all the racket outside made Hope glance up at the window. Her eyes widened in surprise and she got up from the floor and cautiously made her way towards the window. She stared at the penguins and the penguins stared back in return.

Private tapped on the window.

Hope tapped back.

They relaxed in each other's presence for a while.

Then Private started to get really worried. Why was Hope all by herself? Where were her foster parents? Was she okay? Why couldn't Rico hurry up and get the window unstuck quicker?

After a while, there was the sound of a door slamming, and they all jumped in surprise, even though the sound was muffled through the glass for the penguins.

Hope quickly went to sit on the floor, in the same place as before. She stared at the door. Rico finally got the window open, and they slipped through the bars, though Private had a little trouble going through. Then they slinked under the bed and started to stare at the door too, and waited for 15 minutes, until voices and footsteps started to get closer, and closer…

To be continued.

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**A/N: hello. I've decided to hold a sortof contest thingy, in celebration of my 20th chapter, or just because. ;). So here's the thing (it may or may not appear in the story): Come up with a name for Hope's mother (you know, the woman who appeared in the beginning of the fanfic) and put it in your review for this chapter. No, don't make the name something silly like Cruella De Vil. Wait...nevermind, silly names are allowed, too. ;) the person (or persons) who suggests a name which I like and/or I find witty or good gets a shout-out in the next chapter, a virtual cookie, and...gets to see the next-next chapter before anyone else through the Document Exchange! (of course, the last part wouldn't work if you are an anonymous reviewer who isn't Kukipye, or if you don't want it.) So start putting in names now! Full names, please, and as many as you want. :)**


	21. Foster Neglect

**Girl chapter 21**

**By EppogirlXD**

**As always, thanks to reviewers of Chapter 21: LM1991, Kukipye, InternetGirl123, Asmith137, musicluver99.8, 17Bubbleslove, sk, VivianShadowGirl, TMNTLittleTomboy, MonkeyLucy, Kino Lala, Skystar Leader of FlameClan...**

**and the winner of my little contest is: seylenagomez! I like the name she submitted, Ima Luser (I'm a loser) because it's funny...virtual cookie to you! And next chapter, too... ^_^**

**Sorry for my little hiatus, it was due to my final exams. :P well, on to the story!**

* * *

The door opened a crack, just enough for an arm and hand carrying a plate to slip through and place it on the table. Then the arm slipped out and the door slammed shut before the penguins could see whom the arm belonged to, and there was loud laughter from two people just outside it.

Hope immediately dashed towards the plate, and the penguins were quick to follow. On the plate, there was an olive. Covered in ketchup.

Private blinked. "Huh?"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Skipper demanded. "Hope, what is this?"

She timidly raised and lowered one shoulder. "Food."

"Yes, but what is it for?"

She raised and lowered her shoulder again. But this shrug was less noticeable.

Rico slide over to the plate and gobbled up the ketchup-covered olive. His face twisted in revulsion and then he hacked up a stick of dynamite in disgust. Kowalski pinched the fuse before it could reach the stick and explode.

"When are your foster parents coming back, Hope?" Private asked.

She didn't answer.

Kowalski tried the door. "Locked from the outside," he proclaimed. "But thankfully, most bedroom door locks are extremely easy to pick." He produced a paperclip out of nowhere and began working at the lock, which instantly clicked open at just one jiggle. "Oh yeah."

"Wait here, okay?" Private said to Hope in his kindest yet most worried voice. She still didn't do anything.

The four penguins slid out into a hallway. It looked clean enough. Only when they entered the big living room did their eyes widen in horror.

Bottles of beer and…stuff and plastic wrappers of _other stuff_ now littered the room, so different from the almost-empty room they had looked into before. It seemed like all the trash came from a spilled box that had been carried in, and the junk was scattered around a pointy-looking woman painting on a canvas on an easel, with sculptures––if you could call those things sculptures––surrounding her in a corner. She was posed in a very appalling way, one hand on her hip. Her bright fire engine hair flew everywhere.

In another corner, am emptier one, there was a TV blaring out the Super Bowl or something. The man and the couch he was on seemed to merge into one another. He had a pink Mohawk.

"Turn it down!" snapped the woman when the man pressed the volume plus button on the remote control.

He only scowled and turned it on higher. The woman flipped him the bird. Skipper covered Private's eyes with his right flipper, which had been already half way up to his eyes when they first entered the room. The woman stomped over to a stereo in the corner and turned it on loud until Linkin Park was competing with the roar of the television to be heard. The penguins clapped their flippers over their ear holes and went back to Hope's bedroom to escape the living room and before the pink-haired man or the pointy woman, who just yelled out that she was ordering Pizza Bam or whatever, could see them.

Private instantly exploded by the time Rico shut the door softly behind them. "Are the man and woman out there your foster parents, Hope?" He cried.

Hope nodded, looking worried because it seemed like she had upset the young penguin.

"But why would two people with terrible lifestyles and who can barely take care of themselves properly take in a young child to care for?" Private was on the verge of hysteria.

Kowalski had taken the opportunity to search the whole apartment for evidence and now produced a file. "It says that the woman is named Constanza and the man is Blake," he reported, looking inside the file. "She is an artist and he is a retired football player," he looked up. "What a bunch of chicken-fried baloney! Is Social Services really this dumb and gullible?"

"But why did they take in Hope to take care of of all things to do?" Skipper demanded.

Rico was staring at the olive suspiciously. Hope examined him, wondering what he was going to do.

"It is because," Kowalski said, tapping some papers, "foster parents get paid by the government, money to help raise the child. Apparently, in this case, the foster parents in this apartment are not using the money on Hope." He looked at the red olive.

"This was not the future I was hoping for her!" Skipper furrowed his eyebrows. Private looked faint. "Kowalski, options!"

Kowalski told him his idea.

When the foster parent Constanza opened the door to the apartment to the suspicious man in a trench coat later on, expecting her Pizza Bam, she did not know how much bam she would get.

* * *

**Review...**

**Kukipye: BAM!**

**Me: I don't know I just made that name up! And, i need a beta-reader, so if anyone can recommend me one...**


	22. Another One

**Girl chapter 22**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers of chapter 21!: TMNTLittleTomboy (I know right!), Kukipye (oh. :P), Asmith137 (yeah...), seylenagomez (yay!), Eternally Ebony (not yet. But soon.), InternetGirl123 (thanks.(:), lovingSkipper (Because English is my worst subject in school. D:), VivianShadowGirl (I'm sorry. D:), MonkeyLucy (yeah!), DovenGrenade (aw...*Hope hugs back*).**

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on!" Private said in an agitated way.

Rico looked up in surprise from the bomb he was polishing. Private had never spoken like that before. It seemed like every little thing worked him up. In fact, four times in this past two weeks that Hope had been sent back to Social Services, he had been staring into space with a disturbed look on his face, and twice during those times he had dropped a teacup in his distraction. Once, he had even contemplated out loud to the other penguins about bringing Hope back to the zoo to be raised by them and the other animals until she grew up. But of course, she had already reentered the society and had her name in records. It would be suspicious if she just disappeared without a trace, and risky too. Besides, she had already attempted living at the zoo, and that hadn't worked out well. Zoos were meant for animals, and not people, after all.

"We're almost ready Private," said Skipper as he slooooowly stirred his fish coffee and slooooowly drank from the cup.

Private groaned. Why couldn't everyone be just a _little_ faster? They could leave whenever they wanted to, yet the others always seemed to take their own sweet time these days. Everything anyone did now annoyed him. The other zoo animals _did_ tell him he was getting upset over the simplest facts these weeks.

Finally the others were ready to go. "I heard that these people are_ much_ better than Hope's first foster parents," Kowalski was saying to the others as they made their way to a bigger apartment than the first one, farther away from the zoo but near the river. "Hope's new foster parents became wealthy founded an organization that is trying to save the endangered species of sharks from being killed for just their fins to make a soup! So I definitely bet that they are taking care of Hope much better than her previous foster carers."

_They could also be lying like the last two_, Private thought miserably, _and instead of taking care of Hope, they're using her to benefit themselves._

But when they reached the apartment, his spirits started to rise. The whole building was sophisticated and modern. Could this be the start of a great future for Hope?

After crawling around the maze of air vents, the quartet of penguins finally busted through one and tumbled to the floor of a pretty pink bedroom that was now temporarily the girl's.

"Hi, Hope!" Private said excitedly, and ran to where she was lying on her stomach on a frilly pink queen-sized bed with a canopy and everything.

Hope dropped the picture book she had been looking at and hugged Private, just as happy.

Meanwhile, the other three looked around the room. Rico whistled in amazement.

Hope's last bedroom could _never_ even begin to compare to this large one. There was a shelf full of dolls of every shape and size, and a chest overflowing with toys right next to it. A shelf of attractive picture books stood tall in one corner, and the wallpaper was full of pink flowers. Lights of all types glowed from the ceiling and along the walls. There was a short desk where arts and craft materials were scattered about. Another, shorter table displayed a tea party in progress, dolls and stuff animals seated around the cups of milk and platters of cookies. There was a door in the corner, decorated with stickers and a full-length mirror, no doubt leading into a closet full of every girl's dream clothes. A window showing off a beautiful view of NYC dominated a whole wall. A flat-screen TV competed with a puppet show area in who would be most used, and the three penguins were practically drowning in the soft pink carpet. To make sure your mind was completely blown away, there was even a little ice cream parlor where you could make your own ice cream sundaes and such.

The penguins were definitely astonished in the change of Hope's new living area. Though…the room seemed awesome and everything, but didn't seem lived in. Private believed that that would all change soon, of course, as Hope would soon completely fill the bedroom with life. She looked completely happy, except for her eyes.

They stayed and hung out with her in her room for a while, settling into contentment though forgetting to scope out the rest of the apartment.

They could have stayed happily in that room forever in each other's presence, but the sounds of her bedroom door opening a little while later interrupted them from their fun time.

The penguins ducked out of sight just in time as a woman with too much makeup on tottered into her room on high heels and said, "_Hey _honey, it's time to go to Stevie's! I know you'll have a _marvelous_ time there!", in a sickly sweet voice.

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**Some random thoughts:**

**-I've been wondering, why is there so many other PoM fanfics with almost the same title ('Girl'), just with little variations?**

**-Someone should make a fan art for this fanfic...**

**-gosh this story has so many chapters!**

**-When I went to create a new poll, I checked out the one where I asked for a name for Hope, and I saw that there are 27 unique voters! 8D virtual cookies to everyone who voted. I never knew that many people even cared about this fanfic. :)**

**-Review!**


	23. At Stevie's

**Girl chappy 23**

**By EppogirlXD**

**I know, I know, you guys might be banging your head on a nearby wall, wondering why I keep going and going and going and going on with the evil child-abusing adults, but there is going to be a new twist in events. You would know if you read Kukipye's review. This chapter is just going to be the filler that gets things moving right before the action.**

**Now I'm going to use 'right' or 'wrong' to help confirm some of chapter 22's suspicions. Even if your gut feelings are a little right or just a little wrong, well: InternetGirl123 (wrong), Asmith137 (wrong), Eternally Ebony (your gut may be right), 17Bubblesloves (...right and wrong), VivianShadowGirl (right!), TMNTLittleTomboy (right!), Kukipye (you get a big ol' MEEEEH), Rookie70Penguin (idk where to put you as right or wrong then), Byakuyafan1 (right!).**

**Thanks to the reviewers. Don't feel bad if you got a wrong. Your comments helped to narrow down other's suspicions about bad things about to happen.**

* * *

Okay, so maybe the foster mother's voice didn't sound sickly sweet. Ginny Brown just wasn't great with kids. She knew absolutely nothing about them, and only gave them want they wanted. To her, children were an alien species. She and her husband only knew how to save endangered groups of sharks, and even gain profit from doing so. They looked good helping animals, and they decided to look even better by fostering poor children.

So far, they had fostered 12 children, and had given them everything that they've wanted (just look at Hope's room). From that, they had succeeded in looking caring, loving, and generous to the public. Currently, they were fostering two boys and a little girl, and keeping their nice and caring act steady and flowing.

But still. They knew nothing about kids.

"Come on, children!" Ginny sang as she clipped-clopped into the vast living room with Hope (and the penguins following covertly) in tow.

Two boys appeared from an adjoining kitchen, both in their teens, one probably a few years older than the other. They had been apparently playing a cards game when their foster mother had called them, because cards were all scattered on a counter in the kitchen from where Private in the living room could see.

The foster father, George Brown (A/N: Ack, I am so creative), put down the newspaper he had been reading, got up from the lavender couch, and went to scoop up little Hope into his arms. (Private squeaked at this.)

When they emerged from the apartment building, they looked like a perfect, loving family.

Ha.

On the taxi ride, the adults talked about strategies to preserve sharks from being turned into soup. The teenage boys smirked at Hope from across the backseat. They both had red hair, but didn't look related. Hope squirmed in Ginny's lap uncomfortably like she didn't belong. She wiggled until her back was up against the window. Private, who was under the backseat with the other penguins, clutched her dangling leg in comfort.

Finally, they reached their so-called Stevie's house. And it was an _actual_ house. You didn't see lots of these just sitting around in a concrete jungle like NYC. Most structures were tall buildings.

They entered. Hugged, air-kissed, said hi, how have you been, said doing fine, oh hey, a new girl.

"This is Hope," Ginny said proudly. "She's around three years old. We don't know her age or birthday for sure, because she had led a terrible life with abusive parents before meeting us. We took her in to help her find a better life." She smiled sweetly.

Rico scoffed. Private made an annoyed sound. These foster parents helping _her_ find a _better life_? The penguins were the one who did everything, darn it!

Stevie grinned down with shining blue eyes at Hope, so amazed at how caring and considerate the Browns were. Why, he thought everyone should be like them.

The little girl looked down at her new shiny black shoes. She liked all her new clothes and toys, but she still missed the regurgitated zoo plushies from Rico and her old purple jacket.

"And of course you've already met Trenton and Leon," Ginny continued, pointing from the older boy to the younger.

"Ah, yes," he said as they walked into his dining room and settled down. "So, I believe you owe me some money?"

"Well actually," Mr. Brown admitted, "With all our children and their expenses, we were actually hoping you could lend _us_ some more money."

Stevie raised an eyebrow, looking at the children. "Doesn't SS already give government checks to help raise the children?"

Ginny tipped her nose up. "Of course we used those on them, and a little of yours, but most of your money went to renting a new building for planning the shark–"

Stevie frowned. "I don't care about no friggin endangered sharks, I just want you to _return_ my_ money_ with interest before I can lend you any more. Or else!"

Ginny tipped her nose up even higher. "Now, Stevie, don't start acting like a loan shark in front of the children…"

"Then maybe they shouldn't be in front of me," he said between clenched teeth.

"Oh if you must," she replied, raising her haughty and stubborn nose highest into the air. "Kids, go into the backyard."

As the three children went and did as they were told, Private started to follow from the penguins' hiding place, but Skipper held him back.

"Oh, I think the children can take care of themselves, Private," he said. "I want you to stay here. I'm more concerned about what is about to take place in this dining room than outside. We should be prepared for whatever bad things that might occur here with human grown-ups. After all, from what we've seen, they are more dangerous than innocent kids, who are harmless!"

Oh was his gut wrong this time...

* * *

**Dun dun dun! I bet you know what might happen soon. This next abuse might be worse than the last two.**

**Combined.**

**But what do I know? :P**

**(Random Author Note(RAN): Now that I have the ending sorted out in my head, I now estimate that there might be around 10 chapters left. Yep.)**

**Now! Gotta go write the next chapter of Skilight~**

**Reviews are valued!**


	24. Elements of Horror

**Girl chappy 24**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: TMNTLittleTomboy (thanks :)), ladybug201251 (just keep swimming, just keep swimming...), 17Bubbleslove (you are right!), InternetGirl123 (you are right, too!), Asmith137 (it's okay. :)), VivianShadowGirl (You have every right to be scared. All I can say is...um, there's always a happy ending?), Eternally Ebony (I probably am), seylenagomez (you are so right), and AnimationNut (me too. :()!**

* * *

The backyard was very different from other ones. You could barely tell it was a yard, except maybe for the grass. It had two short buildings towering on both sides, and an alley behind it. Even with these walls, sunlight still managed to get inside, and hit some flowers. Balls, gardening tools, and chairs sat everywhere, and there was even an old TV with cables and everything in the far left corner.

Probably the most interesting thing was the tank of water in the right corner. It was like an aquarium, with a sandy bottom filled with underwater plants, fish swimming about, a stingray, and even a couple of sharks that were eating the fish. Water splashed out onto the grass every once in a while. Occasionally it would splash into this soil trench beside it, soaking the dirt inside there and the dirt pile next to it.

The boys led her over to the tank. Trenton pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it with a lighter.

"Look at the little fishies!" Leon, the younger boy, cooed, crouching down to Hope's height. Her gray eyes grew as wide as soccer balls as she observed the stingray and sharks. "Don't you just wanna pet them?"

Hope shook her head. Despite that, Leon still grabbed her arm and pushed her hand flat onto the cool glass tank. The sharks swam towards her outstretched palm curiously, which freaked her out.

"See those sharks?" Trenton puffed out some smoke. "These two fishies were_ saved_ by Ginny and George. Isn't that _exciting_?"

"Ginny's raised nose is so _exciting_, too," Leon said.

Trenton rolled his eyes. "No, it's not."

"Well, yeah, _duh_, course it's not exciting. It just means that she's not getting what she wants. Like _money_ for example."

"Yes," Trenton leaned down towards Hope's left ear. "She didn't take you in because she cares _so much _about poor little children. She just uses them to get what she wants from people."

She shivered.

"And today was an epic fail," Leon said simply. "Just look at her nose!"

"Yes. And when _she_ doesn't get what she wants, _we_ don't get what _we_ want. Is this all clear?"

Hope said nothing.

"Do you know what this little trench is for?" Leon asked, pointing at the hole. He jumped in there with Trenton, and then pulled her down too. She fell on her knees, caking both of them in wet dirt.

"Well, it isn't like it's a hole to bury bodies in or anything," Trenton snickered, then said in an overly cheerful voice, "no, we're digging for treasure!"

"Yeah, treasure," smirked the younger boy, digging his hand into the dirt and throwing it into the dirt pile.

Trenton took out his lighter again to light a new cigarette, but the exposed flame suddenly brushed Hope's mousy long brown hair by accident (or was it on purpose?). She gave a small shriek of shock, swept her lit locks into view, and watched helplessly as the fire began to quickly eat away at her hair. She was horrified. The flames were burning hot.

Only the two boys seemed not surprised at all. "Here, let's get that fire out of your hair," Trenton said gleefully and shoved the panicking Hope down onto the wet dirt ground and used her frail right arm to push himself out of the hole. She screamed as his weight crushed her arm.

"Oopsie," he said lightly. In fact, both boys were acting very frivolous.

"You really should be more quiet," Leon said in an overly concerned tone. "I know!" Then he plopped some dirt onto her face. "That oughta keep your mouth shut."

Then he climbed out of the hole using the same crushed arm as a booster. Hope screamed at the pain again, but she got a mouth of disgusting dirt in the process. She used her other hand to wipe the dirt away, but Leon was already pouring more in from the dirt pile. Also, her hair was still on fire and getting closer to her scalp. She started gasping in terror. More dirt fell on her body, Leon above calling that it was to make her quieter, and she tried to get up but the slightest movement of her right arm shot lightning streaks of pain through her body. So she tried to just wipe the dirt piling on her that was burying her alive. She could barely breath anymore.

"This should snuff out the fire!" She heard Trenton call from somewhere above. The soil around her ears muffled his voice so she wasn't sure if she heard him right. But it didn't matter anyways because the next thing she knew, the big tank of water was plummeting down into the trench she was writhing in, bringing along the fish and stingray and sharks, shattering the glass into small shards, drowning her world, sending her deep into a wet chaotic mess.

* * *

**Who thinks I should hurt her more in creative ways? If you want to see more torture, say YAY!:D, and if you want this to end say NEEEEYY! D:**


	25. Eerie Stare

**Girl**

**Chapter 25**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Yay or ney? Let's see what the reviewers have to say: InternetGirl123(I'm guessing that's a ney), TMNTLittleTomboy (because if Ginny doesn't get what she wants, they don't get what they want. And ... this a ney?), Hope ironic isnt it (Ney I see... with swearing...), Asmith137 (Thanks. :) yay and ney for you), hardrocker21 (Thank you. :D Another ney...), Eternally Ebony (I AM CRUEL INDEED! If I have an OC, I'm always gonna torture it...), ladybug201251 (*writes down your ney*), DovenGrenade (lol, yeah, ney is the good way, but yay would be nice (?) to see...), 17Bubbleslove (*claps hands over ears* Yeah, I heard you, ney. XD), seylenagomez (Same here! Ney!), AnimationNut (Okay, ney.), VivianShadowGirl (... er, is this a yay...?), and Laurel Murphy (ney okay!).**

**The review section sounds like a herd of angry horses.**

**(Oh, and random: I have a new poll. Just a random, curious poll.)**

**OH WITH DE STORY!**

* * *

Private was getting sick of watching the three grown-ups argue. The quarrel was escalating to the point where the adults were practically throwing things at each other. He really wished they would gain some self-control. Their fighting was making him feel terrible inside.

He turned towards Skipper. "Can I go check on Hope in the backyard?"

But Skipper seemed too absorbed in the argument to hear what he said. His blue eyes were only focused on the people in the dining room.

Private sighed and headed out of there, deciding he didn't need permission to leave. When he arrived at the entrance to the backyard, he was presented with a sight he had never thought he would see, a sight that stunned him and caused him to freeze for a moment.

A gigantic glass tank, full of water and creatures, crashing down into what he thought was dirt hole from his point of view, creating a glass and water explosion. Glass smashed and waves of water flew everywhere. The two redheaded foster boys who had obviously toppled the tank were instinctively moving away from it, using their arms as shields. Private saw the grass, the tall buildings surrounding the yard, the old TV and other randomly scattered items, the dirt.

But he couldn't spot Hope anywhere.

His eyes widened at the scene before him and he instantly started to panic, the feeling soaring until he couldn't decide on what to do next. Should he go to the two boys, or go get Skipper? His eyes shifted left and right and he noticed that the crashing had finally ended, leaving a big mess of glass sliding around on the grass and water trickling down on the soil. Thankfully he didn't have to choose where to go to, because after that, he saw other three penguins sliding towards him from the end of the hall, looking very concerned.

"Private! Why didn't you tell me where you went off to? And what happened here?"

Private ignored his leader. Instead, he started to make his way to the center of the wreckage, over the glinting glass and past the red-headed boys too caught up in their high-fiving, much to his shock. He waddled in slow-motion, though he thought he was moving quickly. He started to get the most dreaded and sinking feeling when he reached the hole, full of fish and plants and stingray and _sharks_, thrashing around in cloudy brown and dark red water, yelling for help. And even though he didn't want to, he found himself diving into the already-crowded water, searching for something, anything he hadn't already seen.

It was tough going down into the water. Too many things and frantic animals blocked his way, so he had to shove his way deeper into the darker and even more crowded dirt hole, ignoring unknown things brushing against his feathers or jabbing his foot. The murky water disoriented him, almost making it feel like he was in a polluted ocean instead of a small hole if he did not keep on bumping into soil walls.

Three muffled splashes that reached him above the surging water told him that his teammates had made it here too. A shark fin slapped him, causing him to smack into what he thought was another wall, but it had a different texture and was round. He turned towards it, and his eyes widened. A leg! A human leg, very dirty and a bit bloody. He was surprised that the sharks hadn't devoured it yet.

Something tapped his shoulder. His friends. They looked at him and nodded solemnly. Together, the three helped Private drag the little girl out of the water, and then quickly started taking everything else out of the hole while Private turned towards the boys who were finishing cheering and hollering and clapping each other on the back…

His mind was raging as he turned to the mess in and around the hole, escalating when he looked at poor Hope, then switched onto full fury as he turned back to the boys who were finally noticing him. He felt sickened to his stomach. There was no doubt that these boys had done all of _this_. And his whole little body _hated_ them for it. It was unbelievable. Unacceptable. His young mind didn't know of capability of such horror…

To him, it was too much. His naïve mind couldn't bare the littlest things, and this was impossible to wrap his mind around _why_. The sight of Hope was horrid. Broken and battered and torn, inside and out, he wondered what made the two boys want to make her suffer even more, even after all she'd been through, and make her barely recognizable to something young and innocent.

He stared and stared at the boys with clear blue eyes, and they looked back with sneers. But those mean looks began to fade as his stare intensified. It wasn't a glare – it was a stare filled with everything he felt, directed at the two. It was an eerie stare, an unnerving look that made the two realize things beyond what they thought was right, a look that would haunt them for the rest of their lives, a look that could change anybody. It enclosed around the two like prisoners and kept them still and silent. It was a stare that whispered: _How could you?_.

Private wanted to give the two frozen, pathetic teenage boys standing above him what they deserved. He wanted to put them through everything Hope had been through, the pain and grief, to show them how it was like. He wanted to knock them out hard, like he had done with the other foster families. He restrained himself for thinking that he wanted to kill them. He just really, really, _really_ wanted to hurt them badly, his enraged thoughts almost consuming his mind.

But what he did next surprised everybody: The young little penguin released the two from his stare.

Then he simply turned around, and walked away.

* * *

**Argh, I had a hard time with the paragraphing, and this chapter did not turn out so well, reading it now again... :( I'm feeling reluctant to post this...**


	26. I Love You

**Girl**

**Chapter 26**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to chapter 25 reviewers:**

**InternetGirl123: Course she's not dead! :O That would be a horrible ending. D:  
Kukipye: I dunno - I wondered the same thing in the story. But what, do you _want_ the sharks to gobble her up? I don't think so. Maybe they're whale sharks? Nah, too big...  
VivianShadowGirl: Thanks. ^_^ And I would, too. But that would make us just as bad - no, worse - than the boys. So.  
Eternally Ebony: Thank you. And yeah. the last straw.  
17Bubbleslove: LOL.  
TMNTLittleTomboy: Me too, out of rage. But again, it would make us just as bad as the boys.  
Asmith137: Thank you so much. And, yet again, just as bad ... and we're supposed to be good.  
seylenagomez: Aw, okay. :)  
Captain Cynthia: Yeah, you're so right. And Hope WILL live happily with the penguins. You just wait and see the ending!  
nic2mad: XD Thankies.  
AnimationNut: It is indeed! And thank ya! :D**

**I could've done better in the last chapter...**

**Well, at least, my muse is back. Yay! I guess writing the last chapter helped it to return.**

**I still have a new poll…**

**Oh! And this chapter is dedicated to Eternally Ebony. :D Happy birthday, girl! Enjoy your adulthood! *throws streamers and balloons* Everybody, wish a happy birthday to Ebony! (Even though her b-day was on the 14th...)**

**Now on with the chapter!**

* * *

Everything hurt.

From the torn skin and the crushed arm to the water filled in her nose and lungs and mud filled in her mouth, throat, eyes and ears. Water also clogged her ears, so everything was softly muffled. Her many gashes overlapped her older scars. She had been pulled out of the water, which just made everything feel ten times worse as the freezing wind sliced over her wet skin and soaked clothes, making her wounds scream even more.

Though she couldn't scream herself. Not just because her mouth was full of disgusting mud, but well, she felt just so … tired. She could barely move on her uncomfortable position on the grass to make herself more comfortable, partly because she was very drowsy.

Not only was she hurt all over, she was also incredibly messy. Mud was caked and crusted randomly on her body, and the water just made things worse. Her soaked clothes clutched uncomfortably on her skin like tape and what was left of her scorched hair was burnt and crackly.

She wanted all the unbearable pain to go away. She wanted the discomfort to go away. In fact, she wanted _everything_ to just leave her. She wanted everything to disappear and leave her in peace and comfort. But everything just seemed to clench on even more. Nothing went away, only intensified, and it seemed like all the pain and discomfort just mocked her, sneered at her. All this hurt so bad that she allowed a few teardrops to squeeze out between her half-closed eyes.

Her mind didn't feel any better. All the betrayal and hurt that had been set upon her the minute she arrived in this world all came to attack her again. And she had always been helpless against it all, doing little to nothing to fight back against the horrible people who had all decided that they wanted to ruin a little girl's life, so it wasn't as if she was any stronger now. She was pathetic and small and weak and nothing special at all, she knew that. She was not like other happy and carefree little girls, and she never would be. She was shut away from the rest of the world and miserable, a shade darker than all other children. For a brief moment she contemplated dying. After all, it wasn't like she had anything left to lose.

But a few seconds later, she realized that she was wrong. She would have things to lose. Not all hope is lost, she realized as she drifted into more of a daze, her wounds becoming a little dimmer. The penguins had always helped her out, Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, Private. Private. That little penguin was the best thing she had ever known. He had taught her love and happiness and comfort and care. She couldn't believe she had almost forgotten about the things he had showed her when she first met him. It was extremely difficult to pull those feelings out of her wallowing ocean of misery, and they barely touched the surface. But they made her realize that she still had to live. She couldn't go. Not yet.

"_Hope?_" A distant and echoey voice entered her ears. Blue eyes blurrily appeared between her eyelashes. Concerned blue eyes.

"_Pwivate?_" She was barely able to say his name. Her voice had almost been completely stolen away by the pain.

"_Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay…_" But by seeing what little of his face she could see between her eyelids, she knew that he didn't believe she was all right at all, not even if she told him she was. She briefly wondered how her small, dirty and broken frame looked like from his position. Either way, she wanted to comfort him like he had to her all the time.

"_I fine…_" Her voice seemed even softer and echoey now. She was falling away. The waves of sleep and sea foam of dreams were swiftly pulling her under.

"_Please don't leave me…_" She had to struggle to hear him now. Everything was fading, even the pain and discomfort. Finally.

"_I don wanna…_" Her weak voice just barely made it to him.

His eyes were full of tears as he whispered his next words.

"_I love you, Hope_."

She managed the smallest of smiles as her world faded away.

"_I wuv you too, Pwivate._"


	27. Wallow in Grief

**Girl chapter 27**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thank you to chapter 26 reviewers!:Asmith137 (Thanks. :) it was supposed to be depressing), VivianShadowGirl (Thank you!), TMNTLittleTomboy (I wanna hug her too!), Rookie70Penguin (I think someone else already gave me that idea, and I considered it in a chapter... O_O), InternetGirl123 (Yes, falling into unconsciousness), Skystar Leader of FlameClan (*hands you tissues*), AnimationNut (Thank you!), ruthc93 (Thank you so much, and that's so true. :)), Kukipye (*rolls eyes*), seylenagomez (Me too! And what's 'Change for a Dollar'?).**

**Have any of you ever read _My Little Dashie_? It's a insanely popular MLP fic that could almost make you cry for sure, because it's so sad and beautiful. Other MLP fans should go check it out, it's on FiMFiction . net (That's right, you heard me).**

* * *

Private spent weeks either visiting Hope at the hospital or lying down on his concrete bed, staring at the concrete ceiling that was part of Rico's bed above him. He hardly spoke, hardly ate, hardly slept, and hardly trained. Skipper would have let him off training completely, but he still needed to keep fit just in case there was a major mission that would require his help. The other three could handle most of the missions without him, going day to day the same as always. Of course there was a sad atmosphere around them, and they were sad themselves, but it was Private who was the most miserable. The others had tried to comfort him, but soon it became clear that he wanted to be alone, so they gave him what he wanted. And he wallowed in grief.

It wasn't like Hope was dead or near death – oh no, she was very much alive, just recovering from her wounds in the hospital. It was just that, all his life before he met her, he had been cute, innocent, naïve … happy. Oh how he longed to go back to the time when ignorance had concealed his eyes and kept his mind clean from the bad things in life. His ignorance had started breaking down when events had started taking place before him and Hope, exposing him to things he had never seen before, cruelty he could have never had imagined. Then it had utterly shattered like glass when he saw her out of the dirty water, damaged and filthy and vulnerable.

So now he laid on his hard concrete bed once more, his blanket over his body, his flippers on his round belly. Thinking and mulling over past events, not sure where the future led, because all this couldn't keep happening forever. He couldn't stay depressed for eternity, and soon Hope would be out of the hospital and into a new foster family…

He grew sick at that thought and turned over in his bed. From what he'd seen, was everybody in the world as spiteful as all the families she'd stayed with? Surely not. He saw innocent children here at the zoo all the time with their happy families. And yet it still felt like everyone everywhere was mean and nasty. He suddenly realized that that was what Hope must feel about others all the time. It was a cruel, cruel world in her eyes.

The next time he visited Hope at the hospital, he realized that she had healed considerably. Her wounds were still visible, and he winced whenever he saw them, but she had managed to give him a weak smile to show that she was going to be all right. As he sat on her white pillow and stroked her brown hair and smelled that clean hospital smell, he wondered what would happen next. No way was she going back to another horrible foster family. That was unthinkable. But she was soon going to be dismissed from the hospital soon, so he had to think fast and act fast.

Unlike the other children who shared the same room as her, her bed and surrounding area wasn't full of flowers and cards and toys. She only had the zoo plushies Private brought when he visited that she had loved when she had stayed at the HQ, and he told her to hide them when doctors and nurses came into the room so they wouldn't wonder where they came from. She envied the happy children who had more toys than she did, and that they didn't need to hide them away, and she envied how they had more visitors, mainly their family. She envied how they were happy and beautiful and cared for and loved. People who looked at them smiled and were cheery. People who looked at her frowned and looked concerned or uncomfortable. They had perfect reason to. Nowadays she was grumpy and selfish and sad and silent. Everyone thought that she was a poor and weak girl and felt sorry for her. Only Private believed that Hope was braver and stronger and wiser than all of them combined.

* * *

Private sighed and hopped out the hospital window, watching the sun set behind the skyscrapers. His long visit with Hope had ended when a nurse had come in to give her her dinner. As he headed back to he zoo, he wondered about her future again. He had to take action now. A plan started forming in his mind.

He would find Hope the perfect family if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

**Short chapter is short. But these are long paragraphs, so ... There are probably four to five more chapters left. Yes, the story is coming to an end too fast for me. Your comments?**

**Oh wow, three more reviews until my three hundredth. I wonder who will be my third reviewer for this chapter? ;)**

**Also, I see a lot of you want to give Hope a hug and such. Well, if you guys want to, in your review, you may send Hope a hug or something else and I'll find some way to insert them into the story later. Also sign your name or nickname next to it.**

**And last but not least, happy holidays to everyone out there! Hope you're all out there watching those PoM Christmas specials!**


	28. Stressed Out

**Girl chappy 28**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: TMNTLittleTomboy, Aurora and Aura Blue, AnimationNut (Yeah! You are my three-hundredth reviewer. :)), seylenagomez (I watched it. :) It was sweet), 17Bubbleslove, Captain Cynthia, musicluver99.8, Eternally Ebony (YESH YOU MISSED A CHAPTER and it was the chapter I dedicated to you! D: Ah well, sometimes Kukipye missed chapters too.), Kukipye (Yes. You had fun? :)), EeveeRoseRunner, InternetGirl123, Skystar Leader of FlameClan, and VivianShadowGirl (I checked out the song and it IS very fitting. :O Also, you're right about each chapter having a meaning. There's always at least one topic that gets covered in a chapter).**

**People so far who have wanted to give Hope a hug:17Bubbleslove, musicluver99.8, EeveeRoseRunner.**

* * *

Private went hard to work the next few weeks. Armed with some of Kowalski's computer-hacking abilities, he spent very long hours every night on Alice's computer, searching through files of data mainly owned by Social Services. Some way, some how, he hoped to stumble across the perfect family for Hope through all these. He did extensive research on each person he thought suitable for Hope, and did even more investigation than Social Services would.

He knew that all this research could be a lost cause and he might end up with nothing. This was especially helped with the fact that he couldn't read very well. Yet he fought against that and tried to improve on understanding every last written English word. Also, there seemed to be an endless amount of files and documents and zigzags, so much that he almost gave up. Lots of times he would get a great lead – but they would always end up in a disappointment. Yet he knew what to do and where to go, and every click of the mouse was important to him, whether the information was good or useless. He had a goal and he was strongly determined to reach it, even if it was the farthest goal he had ever seen, and sometimes it sucked his breath away. But doing all this was better than doing nothing, like what he'd been doing weeks before.

Occasionally, the other penguins would want to help. Like when he first started working very hard, Skipper had handed him some fish and said, "Private, you're stressing yourself out. You need to take a break."

"Relaaaaaaaaaaaxxx," Rico had said next to him. The glow of the computer screen, which was the only light in the room besides the moonlight coming in through the window, lit up his profile faintly.

"Sorry Skippah. And Rico." Private said. "But I'm not done yet." He turned back to the screen.

Kowalski interjected, pointing to his clipboard. "Private, according to my statistics, your job will be easier if you rest once in a while," he said seriously.

Private glared at him. "All that rest would waste time! And I have no time to waste finding Hope a home!" He waved his flippers into the air.

"We appreciate your concern, but it would be best-"

"Why can't you guys understand?" He said in frustration. His friends could be so laid-back and clueless sometimes, when they, or mostly Skipper, were not being super paranoid and treating everyday matters like important missions. And of course when it came to this, they decided that it would be easier to choose the former. They didn't care at all about the well-being of children did, they? While they were 'relaxing', some kid was suffering! "You guys never understand!"

"Soldier, I demand you take a break," Skipper said, pressing the little off button on the computer, making the whole screen go black.

"No!" Private switched it back on frantically. Now they were just being ridiculous. He had so much more work to do!

"Well, could we at least help then?" Kowalski offered. "I know ways to make your job easier."

"No." Private snapped. Those other three was already on the wrong track of thinking, so they, especially Kowalski, would probably just make things worse if they tried to help.

Skipper said slowly, "Private, maybe if you calm down and stop to think about what we're saying -"

"There's nothing to think about, except for you guys deciding to slack around when you could be helping others!" Private yelled. "But since it's obvious you three won't be doing that, why don't you guys just leave me alone?"

Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico glanced at one another. They realized that this was Private's own personal mission, but still. Seeing that they could do nothing to get Private to take a break, they jumped out of Alice's zoo office, hoping that he would realize the things they'd said soon.

If not, then, well, there was always brute force.

* * *

**Major winging in this short chapter. :P Half the time I had no idea what I'd been typing. Also, this chapter feels like a filler...**

**Like last time, fanguins who wish to give Hope a hug can say so in their review. :)**

**(If you don't already know, 'fanguins' is the new term for 'PoM fans'. Why? Because it sounds awesome, and we don't have a name for PoM fans besides that.)**


	29. Realization

**Girl chapter 29**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: 17Bubbleslove, LM1991, Eternally Ebony (YEAH FANGUINS got a problem with it? :P And no, I have no idea why there are a lot of characters for reviews... probably for lenthy ConCrits), Captain Cynthia, musicluver99.8, EeveeRoseRunner, VivianShadowGirl (Same here), TMNTLittletomboy, Kukipye (Like I'd said, it was because Private didn't want Kowalski to mess up his work), l-Angel-of-Darkness-l, AnimationNut (Haha, see Ebony, at least some people like the term 'fanguin'.XD), Skystar Leader of FlameClan, and XxSullen .Lifty .GirlxX!**

**Okay, tell me if I got anything wrong on people who want to give Hope a hug: 17Bubbleslove, musicluver99.8 (who also gives a unicorn plushie), EeveeRoseRunner, LM1991, Captain Cynthia, TMNTLittletomboy, Kukipye, l-Angel-of-Darkness-l, Skystar Leader of FlameClan, and ****XxSullen .Lifty .GirlxX****.**

* * *

Hope stared at the same old ceiling as she laid in the same old bed in the same old children's home. She was back in this place again, in the same old wing for children her age. It was naptime, the lights were off and heavy curtains blocked the sunlight coming through the windows. But she was completely wide awake, and filled with worry. She tried to tell herself not to fret – Private would be here any second. Usually he would arrive a few moments after naptime began, but Hope was sure it was much longer than just a few moments by now.

She glanced at the windows once again, then at the beautiful dozing faces of the other children around her. She twisted around – even though it was hard to with the cast on her arm – to look at the adult who was supposed to be keeping watch of them, but she was also sleeping. Well there wasn't much to keep watch of when all the children were just going to lie on mats, napping, for two hours. _Almost_ all the children of course.

Hope got off the mat she had been lying on, and tiptoed past the other children's mats towards a vent at the bottom of one of the walls. This was where Private usually came through to get to her. They'd replaced the metal panel's screwdrivers with strong magnets so it would be easier to take off. She did so now and waited for the familiar penguin to arrive.

Private finally did, and they were delighted as usual to see each other. They spent almost the rest of the naptime talking and playing with her plushies, happy to be in each other's presence. They were careful not to talk too loud, because it would be extremely weird for anyone else in the room to wake up and see a little penguin talking to a girl – and her understanding and responding back.

At one point though, Private fell asleep. Just like that. Hope had noticed him looking more and more tired at every visit, but she hadn't expected _this_. She'd been surprised, but he'd woke up a few moments later to her telling him to maybe not work so hard, and rest more instead.

Once Private left, Hope went back to her mat thinking. She'd seen the older kids in the building lots of times, and they saddened her. Many times she'd seen them either depressed, or angry, or seem to have the words _I don't care anymore_ stamped all over their faces. They were like the looks of hope and happiness long gone and never expected to return. Unlike them, though, she had Private, and she was sure that he would be her hope and happiness forever.

She might've thought that too soon though...

* * *

Back at the zoo, Private automatically headed for the zoo offices, ready to continue his research. But once he had Alice's screen glowing and the mouse next to him, his kept on dozing off for a few moments, then jolting back awake again, over and over. He tried his best to stay on task, but it was too much effort. Finally, he couldn't stay awake anymore and fell asleep right on the desk, just like he had when he'd been with Hope.

* * *

A little while later, he woke up, and immediately became frantic. How long had he been sleeping? What time was it? And why was Kowalski in his place in front of the computer, typing away at the keyboard?

"Kowalski? What are you doing?" Private exclaimed.

Kowalski jumped. "Oh you're awake again, Private. And, uh, just helping you with your research..."

"I told you I didn't need any of you or the other's help!" He snapped. He pushed Kowalski to the side, ready to fix any mistakes he'd made on his project. Yet when he looked at the computer screen, his crankiness started to dissolve. He blinked a couple times, scanned the monitor again, and felt a bit ashamed. Kowalski had actually helped him. A lot. As he clicked on page after page of things, he saw that the brainiac had helped him do things on the computer he would never have figured out how to do by himself, like taking shortcuts and finding ways to get better information. Oh sure, he saw that Kowalski had been useless at some parts of the work, like at the part where he had compiled a list of potential people that could take care of a little girl, because he didn't have a heart the same as Private. Either way, he'd been great at assisting in lots of other sections of his project.

"I think I've been wrong," Private whispered. "I can't do this all by myself. I could have you guys help me." He stared ahead at the monitor.

"Um, _yeah_," Kowalski grinned, glad to be right. "We'd realized that that _waaaay_ before you! Holla!"

Private frowned. "I'm going to go rest now…"

"Okay! I'll be here, helping!"

"Just don't destroy anything, then…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Private shook his head. "Nevermind..."

He left for the penguins' HQ and fell into his bunk. He slept, basically taking a break from everything for a while, and lost track of the minutes, the hours, the days…

* * *

Hope stared at the vent again. Private hadn't showed up for the past few days. He'd _never_ done that before. She'd been waiting the whole time, disappointed and panicking even more at every minute. It would be useless to tell anyone about her worries, so she remained silent. Sometimes she just couldn't handle it, so she cried a little bit. She needed Private, but where was he? Had he forgotten about her? She couldn't stand that thought. Maybe he'd lost his way here. If he had, then she would have to find him.

Hope peeled off the metal panel with slits in it and looked inside the vent. He always came in through here, so obviously this was where to start searching for him. And it seemed like the perfect place to begin, as the tunnel looked big enough for her to crawl in. She took a big breath...

* * *

**Heheh.**

**Anyways, last chance to give hugs. :) Because next chapter is when I'll put them in.**

**Also, I MUST give a HUGE thanks to the amazing artist _MonkeyLucy_, who drew me a picture of Hope in chapter 25 on DeviantART! You could find the artwork on ML's or my dA profile, because I can't put the link on this site because ff has stupidly decided to temporarily cancel links on profiles, so you would see no links on mine. If you still can't find the artwork anywhere, feel free to ask me.**

**I think this chapter sounds confusing in the way I wrote it...**


	30. Laughter and Comfort

**Girl chapter 30**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to all reviewers!: (Oh yeah forgot to respond to the guy who didn't sign in *derp* To you, yes, I _have_ thought about Hope being turned into a penguin... Maybe if I write a sequel? ;)), AnimationNut (We'll see about that...), ladybug201251, Captain Cynthia (Why thank you!), musicluver99.8 (o.e I don't think I can give Hope a children army...), 17Bubbleslove (It's okay, she's in good hands... *evil smile*), Asmith137, XxSullen .Lifty .Girl xX (e.o I don't think I can give Hope a hippo either...), l-Angel -of-Darkness -l (Wow, people are really talking about turning Hope into a penguin or an otter, huh?), VivianShadowGirl, and TMNTLittleTomboy. :)**

**Wow, these chapters are just getting longer and longer...**

**And also, I miscalculated. The hugs for Hope will be in the NEXT chapter. So you have one more chapter to send them in.**

* * *

"What time is it?" Private asked as he opened the fridge door and stared blankly at the contents, searching for a carton of milk. He finally realized that the carton was right in front of him.

"Just turned 1700 hours," Skipper said. "Why?"

Private blinked. "I thought it was nine in the morning…"

"Nuh-uh," Rico pushed a digital clock that clearly read 5:00 pm in red in his face.

Private nudged that aside, feeling slightly disoriented. He'd lost track of time for the past few days, and had occasionally forgotten what day it was. Working and working without a break and then suddenly stopping for a while to rest had taken a toll on his sensitive mind, messing up all his routines. As he carried the milk to the concrete table, Kowalski fell through the fishbowl hole and landed in the HQ, looking stunned and burnt.

Skipper gave him an irritated look. "What's happened now, Kowalski?"

Kowalski regained his posture and shot him and Private a nervous look as he waddled towards the other three penguins. "Well, I was just helping out with Private's research… And I was trying out a new program to see if it would help make the efficiency of gathering data easier… but…"

"Just spit it out man!" Skipper ordered.

Kowalski glanced at Private again. "The computer exploded."

"WHAT?" Private yelled, immediately going off on his own explosion. "I thought I told you not to destroy anything! Now that you've blown up Alice's computer, and now all my research and the data I've collected is probably _gone_! How could you Kowalski? _How could you_!"

Kowalski backed away from Private's outburst. "Whoa there Private, I'm sorry, I seriously didn't mean to—"

But Private was too worked up to listen. "I'm going to have to start everything from scratch, and Hope is going to have to suffer longer and maybe even get another horrible foster family because of this! I feel so helpless now. Thanks for nothing, Kowalski! What am I going to _do_?" He buried his face into his flippers.

Kowalski looked helpless too. Only Skipper, who finally butted in between them, seemed to know exactly what to do. "When a fellow soldier makes a mistake during battle, you're not just going to stand there, right in the middle of the battlefield, and whine about his unwise act! Or you'll end up just like Manfredi and Johnson… Shot in the head and dead before they knew it. No, you've just got to stop thinking about the mistake for now and take action! Let's all––"

Kowalski interrupted, and an even more troubled look appeared on his face. "I didn't finish what I had to say. There's worse news."

"What could be worse than the computer exploding?" Private wailed.

"Well, I found out while searching the children's home's website that…" He paused uneasily then quickly continued before Skipper could tell him to 'just spit it out' again. "Hope'snotinthechildren'shomeandthepeopletherecan'tfindheranywhere."

There was silence as the penguins sorted the words out in their minds. Then Private took in a sharp breath as he realized what Kowalski had just said. But to be sure, he asked tentatively, "Are you saying what I think you're saying…?"

Kowalski nodded solemnly. "Hope's missing."

* * *

Skipper had then taken charge once again, as Private just stood there in a shocked daze, not exploding at all like right before, feeling like he was going to faint. Now both of them were searching for Hope while Kowalski and Rico stayed back in the zoo to repair Alice's computer. Even through all his despair, Private had to really marvel his teammates' will in doing anything to help him help a poor little girl. They really were his true friends.

As they were both leaning against a brick wall of an alleyway in the middle of the route from the zoo to the children's home, waiting for a break in pedestrians so they could dash across the sidewalk and street, Skipper regarded Private with concern. "You feeling okay Private?"

Private took a deep breath. The sky above was darkening with rain clouds. In truth, he felt sick to his stomach. But instead of answering Skipper's question, he instead murmured, "If I were a lost little girl, where would I go…"

Skipper tried to help out in compassion. "Probably a place you are familiar with."

Private's eyes widened. "Do you think she could've decided to run away back to the zoo?"

Skipper raised and eyebrow. "Well, you haven't visited her in quite some time, but-"

Private let out a cry of despair, looking even more helpless than before. "Do you think that's likely? Don you think she would really know the route back? Is it possible that this whole mess is _completely my fault_?"

Skipper put a flipper around Private's shoulders in sympathy. "No, it's not. Listen Private, how about this? I'll go to the children's home and begin searching for her there, where she had been last seen. You can search the route to the zoo and near the zoo itself, if you really think Hope decided to look for you or something. If you can't find anything, just go back into in the HQ and rest, and I'll be back in a couple of hours. Is that okay with you?"

Private nodded numbly, not knowing what to say. But then the next thing he knew, Skipper had already disappeared across the sidewalk and road, leaving him all alone. He sighed, and began waddling back to the zoo, searching all around him for the little girl who had changed his life. He looked all over in worry, feeling more alone and helpless by the second. But then he imagined how Hope must be feeling right now. Definitely much more alone and helpless than he did. His head was chock-full of concern and questions orbiting around the idea of Hope missing, making him more depressed and worried by the second. He wondered for a moment whether his life would have been better if she had never arrived in it, but quickly discarded the thought because he couldn't imagine it. Anyways, it made him feel cruel inside just thinking about it.

The sky darkened further with dark rain clouds, and grumbled with thunder. It seemed like the perfect weather for the moment. When it finally started to drizzle, Private took a rest on the top of a tall building, scanning the environment around him for anything, any sign or trace that a young girl had been there. But the streets seemed emptier than usual. He wondered whether it had been a good idea to agree with Skipper's idea to split.

He continued on his way back to the zoo as raindrops started slipping down his feathers, and strained his eyes as he observed the streets. An old man was sitting outside his shop, smoking and listening to a radio playing jazz music. A couple squeezed under an umbrella, lost in their own world. A few kids on the steps of a building were opening their mouths to the sky, letting the rain fall in. Several buses lumbered past, pausing only to pick up passengers. A few stray dogs prowled and whimpered in a small alleyway. A mother quickly pulled down the folding hood of a stroller so her baby would not get wet from the rain. And Private felt sicker than ever as he reached Central Park, feeling like the longer Hope was gone, the chances of finding her grew smaller. _Anything_ could have happened to her. His imagination was really riding away. She could even be-. No, he would not allow himself to think that. Not unless he saw it for himself. Their whole story couldn't be for _nothing_ at the end. He didn't like those movies he saw on the telly that did not have a happy ending.

He walked all over the park as the rain started coming down even more, and the sky looked more like night than day. "Where are you, Hope?" He whispered to himself, hoping that the universe would give him an answer. He didn't think that the universe actually _would_. When some lightning flashed, the park lit up and he saw a small lone figure leaning against the wall of the zoo slump down onto the grass, many yards and grass and trees away from him. When he let out a cry, the thunder drowned out his voice. "_Hope_? Is that you, Hope?" And when the rain started pelting down even harder, Private started dashing towards that little figure, hoping against hope against Hope. He moved as fast as he could, feeling his wish swell through his whole body, feeling that if he didn't get to that figure, he might as well die. He pushed through the rain, whipped through the grass, slipped on the mud…

And a small pair of hands grasped him in an embrace.

"Pwivate?" A girl's face appeared from the hood of the jacket she was wearing. Oh, it was her. It was her alright. And instead of sobbing or yelling or scolding or exclaiming about how worried he'd been, he started… Laughing. And Hope started laughing too. They both didn't know why. Here they were, outside in a storm, getting soaked from the rain, cold from the wind, dirty from the mud, freaked by the thunder, miserable just a minute ago, and they were laughing. Maybe it was because they were both relieved to see each other, or maybe they'd both become insane. Who knew? But either way, they were glad to be finally reunited and back together again.

As small tears started mixing with the rain, Hope squeezed Private in a hug and didn't let go. Private squeezed back. "I been looking everywhere for you, Hope," he whispered between rumbles of thunder.

"Me too," Hope looked him over, like she couldn't believe she'd actually found him. Or, more like, he found her. "I missed you."

"Me too," Private agreed. And they giggled even more, the rain falling in a cozy and beautiful way.

Then a different voice slipped into the moment. "My goodness, what is a little missing girl and a small penguin doing out here in the rain?"

The two glanced up. A female figure in a raincoat was standing right above them, an umbrella in hand, but her face was obscured by the darkness of the storm. Before they could respond, the woman gently scooped up the two in her arms and was saying in a concerned way, "We need to get you two somewhere dry and warm."

Private and Hope did not mind. There was something about this person that made them feel calm and cared for. She seemed to put them at ease and made them feel safe. Anyway, they were together, and that was all that mattered for now. Happy again, they snuggled in and both started drifting off to sleep as the person started carrying them away to somewhere nice and out of the rain that was no longer falling down so hard anymore.

* * *

**And yes, that is the scene that I drew with charcoal that I posted on DeviantART, for those of you who might have seen it.**

**Also, who could this mysterious person be? You can guess… It's someone we've all seen in one of the episodes…**


	31. Not Alone

**Girl**

**Chapter 31**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Many thank yous to reviewers! I'll tell you if you were wrong or right on who the mysterious character was: PrincessAlyssa (No.. Not her. O.o She's evil and is in Hoboken anyway...), Eternally Ebony (Nope, not her! Though I considered her. BTW, you know your reviews are always really, really unique from other people's?), InternetGirl123 (it's one of your guesses. XD), ladybug201251 (Oh no not her mom. o.o), l-Angel-of-Darkness-l (not her mom, sorry. :(), VivianShadowGirl (XD big whoop for no idea!), EpicBlaze (if it were that crappy zookeeper... That would be OOC. And huh... Hope as an animal again), Whitewolfz100 (I don't think that's how you spell her name... But good guess! And thanks about the drawing. XD), crazyone256 (No, no, sorry.), (Thank you! And the idea of Hope being turned into a penguin... Again...), Layra (Of course I will! :)), Kukipye (Seriously, yeah, we know you know who it is, stop gloating.), 17Bubbleslove (Yup, yup!), AnimationNut (The former is correct, and yeah, Kowalski blowing up a computer. XD), Skystar Leader of FlameClan (:O Tell me!), ruthc93 (It's fine for not reading the chapter. XD But not fine for you not updating. So get on updating! And no, not her. ;)). **

**Sorry for updating so late. I've had stuff going on. Musical stuff and exam stuff had been literally stacked up on top of the writing laptop. Speaking of exams, I still have my math, science, and art ones to go... :(**

**And yep, the hugs are somehow inserted in this chapter. For those of you who would not enjoy reading the hugs, just skip paragraph (1, 2, 3, 4) five.**

**WARNING: This chappy is sappy… Like so many other chapters…**

* * *

_The rain made an echoey sound in her ears as she drifted off to sleep, then faded away to nothing as she fell into a deep slumber. In her dream, she was all alone in a dull atmosphere, where there was nothing all around her except for a dreary, foggy, and monotonous color._

_She was confused. After all, hadn't she just been reunited with the only one who truly cared for her so much, a small penguin with a big heart? Shouldn't her dream be filled with light and happiness and comfort? Frustrated, she let out a small whine. She didn't want to be left all alone _again_. She'd just received her happily ever after, right?_

_At that moment, a shadow came across the gloom, taking the shape of a person. The person walked right up to Hope and did the most startling thing._

_The person hugged her._

"_Feel better kid, feel better," the person said, tears running down cheeks but giving Hope a knowing smile. Hope didn't know the person's name, but her dream found a way to identify the person as __EeveeRoseRunner, of all names. Finally realizing that the person was not going to do anything harmful, just simply embrace her, she decided to hug back. So she did. And the atmosphere became a little less dark. EeveeRoseRunner left after that, and Hope thought that would be all. But someone new came after that, someone called 17Bubbleslove, who simply hugged her too. Feeling loved, Hope embraced her immediately, feeling the atmosphere become even lighter. LM1991__ appeared out of the thinning mist next, giving her a big warm hug, which she gave back, and she embraced __Captain Cynthia__ too, feeling herself smile. Then she eagerly hugged __TMNTLittletomboy and l-Angel -of-Dark ness-__ who were both just the most amazing people__ l__, and held __Skystar Leader of FlameClan__ and AnimationNut close, her eyes brimming with tears of happiness. And when Kukipye squeezed her enthusiastically and __InternetGirl123__ hugged her sincerely, she knew this was the right dream after her ordeal. She felt the care and concern pour out from __ladybug201251__into her, and she saw her atmosphere glow. __Asmith137__'s one long hug was equal to __Skipperten__'s many, many hugs, and she did not become sick of hugs even after all that. How could you? It's probably not possible to become sick of hugs. Then __musicluver 99.8__ gave her THREE hugs and a unicorn plushie, which greatly delighted her, and last but not least, __XxSullen. Lifty. GirlxX__ embraced her twice and gently handed her a stuffed bear. Hope smiled and cuddled it._

_After a while, the last person left, and Hope realized that the atmosphere all around her was shining and glowing brighter and more intense than she could ever imagine, a dazzling radiance filled with love and happiness. In her dream, she saw that so many people cared for her, and she hadn't even known. She knew now. And she thanked every last one of them, for cheering her through her hard times and showing empathy. She appreciated the hugs and warm embraces, and could not begin to express all the gratitude she had for them. _

_She wasn't alone. Ever._

_The light grew so brilliant she had to close her eyes._

_Then everything vanished._

* * *

Hope woke up.

She slowly regained awareness of where she was. She heard the hums and whirrs of machinery. People murmuring far-off. The fading sounds of footsteps in the distance. She was lying down on something soft yet rough. Everything was calm and quiet and peaceful, but all the sounds and sense of touch felt so much more solid than in her dreams.

She slowly opened her eyes, letting them get adjusted to the bright yellow lights on the white-tiled ceiling, and started to get up, making the small sofa she was on creak. A lady wearing a white lab coat peeked into the room through the doorway opposite the sofa and saw that Hope was awake. Her eyes brightened up. "Oh good! You're up," she said as she came into the room, ponytail swinging.

Shauna had really matured over the years after she had finished being an intern at the zoo's animal clinic. She'd taken a full-time job after finishing school, and was now taking care of animals all day long, content with her job and husband. She still managed to look the same as from all those years before though, except that her hair was a bit curlier.

Hope sat up and rubbed her eyes. Shauna approached the little girl with a gentle smile. "I hope you didn't get a cold from being out in the rain for so long. That wasn't a good idea to run away like that. I found out you're missing from a children's home. Is that true?"

Hope stared at her. "Where's Pwivate?"

Shauna blinked. "Who?" But then she widened her eyes. "Oh, is that penguin you were with in the rain? How did you two get to each other, anyway? Was it by pure coincidence, or did you find the penguin near the children's home and decided to bring him back on your own? Unless you were actually taking him away from the zoo instead. I don't see how either is possible though…"

Hope hadn't heard a thing Shauna had said. She only wanted to know one thing. "Where's Private?" She repeated.

Shauna frowned slightly. "You won't answer my questions until I answer yours, huh?"

Hope's gray eyes grew.

She sighed. "Come on. I'll take you to the little penguin."

Shauna led her out of the room, down a short sterile hall, through a door, down another short hall, and finally into a little room with posters of animal anatomies plastered on the walls, books on the healthcare of animals on the shelves, and medicine to treat animals in the cabinets. It looked exactly the way a vet clinic would look like.

To Hope's left, there was a metal cage on a counter. And in that cage was a very little drowsy-looking penguin with a calm and content, though slightly troubled, look on his face. "Private!" She screamed in a whisper, and went straight to his cage. Her little fingers clutched the thin bars as he became aware of the fact that she was here, in front of him, looking tired and slightly messy and dirty but happy and healthy at the same time. That made him glow, which in turn made her glow too. Not literally, of course. But it showed that they glowed from the inside out, and as Shauna observed that, she felt a small smile tug at her lips. In her point of view, it was extremely cute and sweet.

"Hey, why don't we get him out of there?" She suggested to both Hope's and Private's delight. She sprang open the door and soon both of them were giggling and playing on the clinic floor. Shauna stood and watched over them, and would have loved to have stood and watched over them some more, but a sudden bark of her name from the hall alerted her. Alice.

"I'll be right back, okay guys?" But the two weren't really listening. She closed the door and left.

"What have you been doing?" Private asked.

"Sleepin'" Hope giggled.

"Oh." Private said in a relieved voice. "I've been sleeping too." He looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

Hope grinned. "I'm aweshume!"

Private laughed. "You are awesome!"

* * *

Shauna came back a few minutes later. And by her side was a brunette lady. Hope's glow dimmed a bit when she saw her. Her social worker.

"Hello, Hope," the lady said, looking down at her on the floor, a big smile on her face. "Well, it's time to head back to the children's home now. We have a few people on our list just waiting to foster you, since you made some news disappearing like that."

Hope paused hesitantly. Go back _there_? Her holding cell where they kept her until it was her time again to be forced to be at the mercy of tormentors? Was she just going to willingly go back there, and start the cycle all over again? She wouldn't even have to wait for her turn. There was already a list of people, according to that woman. So she sat there for a split second too long, trembling, uncertain of what to do.

"Well, get up! And let go of that penguin. It's very unhygienic to just up and touch them, as I'm sure you know, miss," she turned to frown disapprovingly at Shauna. The she turned to face Hope again. "Come on. We don't have all day…"

Now it was Shauna's turn to pause as Hope got up reluctantly, letting go of Private. She could see the little girl's small frame. Her unclean hair. The smudges on her skin from mud. Her damp clothes. Her white bandages. Her big gray eyes, reflecting no light. She was just another girl who wanted to be loved and cared. But unlike so many other girls, she had hardly ever experienced either.

Something came over her then, like a veil. Lots of things had come over her over the years, but none of the veils had ever made a big impact on her life. After a flash of thoughts though, she knew that this one would. And how would it impact her life? For the moment, she was going to blurt it right out.

"I would like to consider adopting Hope!"

* * *

**...Yeah... It's her, though I'm not quite sure on the spelling of her name, as half my sources spelled it as 'Shuana' and the other half pronounced it as 'Shawna'. So I just went with Nick dot com. Also, it was tough deciding on whether it be her or Gladys, but Gladys is kinda a crazy cat woman anyways, so...**

**mutated-ducks-rule suggested the idea of Hope getting drunk on cupcakes... Hey, her idea, not mine! XD Combined with the idea that some of you want her to turn into a penguin, I suddenly have a sequel idea...**

**I've also started a FB group for PoM fanfics and stuff... If you're interested, I'll message you the name.**

**Meanwhile, review!**


	32. Uncertainty

**Girl chapter 32**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: l-Angel-of-Darkness-l (I know right), Kukipye (Shuddup), Layra, Eternally Ebony (I plan to torture her... FOREVER. Mwahaha. In sequels to come.), InternetGirl123 (O.o Wow, that's a long time since I first published), Asmith137 (Yeah, the hugs, not so sure about those, but it was too late to turn back.), Lovekit and Silverkit (Aw you had months. Sorry. :(), VivianShadowGirl, Captain Cynthia (Another person want Hope as a penguin...), 17Bubbleslove, EeveeRoseRunner, Gina (Well yeah I know Gladys showed up more than once, I had not watched Feline Fervor before posting the last chapter only after. Anyway, it's Shauna and not Gladys.), Pink Wildfire (Yep! And also thank you so much for reading the whole story from start to almost finish that quickly and reviewing so much too!), and DarknessAndMagic!**

**Alright, who were the donkeys who thought the story had actually been completed in the last chapter? *Slaps baseball bat into palm* No way is it over yet! I wouldn't be that cruel to just leave it at that and not get into the overly sappy parts at the end where I cheesily describe everyone's dandy thoughts and feelings. Though, yeah, I can see it ending right then and there. But it would be too abrupt for me.**

**So. Few more chapters to go, including the epilogue. I know you readers are moaning and screaming from having to be stuck with this fanfic for over a year, but have no fear. It may be over soon! May.**

**Also, someone offered to betaread for me! :D Thank you so much, ClassifiedAndTopSecret, for responding to my plea and offering to have a look at this chapter before I posted it. Your comments are amazing. There seriously could not have been a better person to do this for me.**

* * *

Private felt stunned. He couldn't believe his ears. _Am I dreaming…?_ But a second later that passed and he began thinking as the adults began talking.

Shauna had said that she wanted to adopt Hope with no warning at all. He hadn't seen that coming. So was she for real? He couldn't tell yet. He also began to feel doubtful. If she _was_ genuine about her words, and Hope came into her care, it could be just like all the previous foster parents. It could be downright horrific. He didn't want to think about it - there were many stormy clouds in that area. His brow furrowed with fear and uncertainty.

He looked at Hope, and she looked at him with newfound shine in her wide eyes. No way was he going to hurt her again. He'd already vowed it. Repairing her had already been a struggle and had taken time; one more time would be the end of all that. She still wasn't even completely healed. No way would she be able to handle any more wounds. It was unimaginable.

Then again… He believed that this was a risk he was willing to take. If he didn't allow this, Hope would be miserable for the rest of her life, lonely and parentless. Anyway, from the way he remembered Shauna, she was hardly a threat – except for that time when she took out his three friends with one swift move. Although that happened, he was pretty sure she would be a great guardian and would treat Hope well. After all, she had meant well when she did that. Not to mention that she was the bubbliest worker at the zoo, and always put a smile and a twinkle in the eyes of all the animals that came into her care. She loved her job and she loved her life and she was young and lovely and full of compassion. What could go wrong?

That was the same thing he'd thought for all of her foster parents though. Even with the bright side beaming on, he couldn't ignore the dark side. It was always lurking there in the background, a possibility just waiting to happen. These days, he realized forlornly, he could always find the ugliest things in the prettiest paintings.

Of course, all this depended on whether or not this even played out. Right now, Shauna and the social worker were having a conversation, the social worker talking to Shauna in a skeptical tone. She had definitely felt that her blurt had been unexpected too. The social worker was practically speaking to her like she was speaking to a child, telling her over and over again that this was a big decision. She probably didn't really like cheerful people either.

Finally the elder woman sighed. "We will consider your choice. Why don't you follow us back to the home for now? You can deal with the manager."

And the next thing he knew, all three humans had left, the social worker stiffly, Shauna confidently, and Hope just the way he was feeling now. Tentative, doubtful, hopeful. Having no idea what was about to happen next. And Private ended right back in his cage, left to his own thoughts and feelings about the whole situation. He decided he would carefully look at the next events before he made his own judgment.

* * *

After a while, he was whisked back to the penguin habitat by none other than Alice herself, and had to listen to her grumble about how she should be paid for doing other people's job too and how she couldn't do anything now anyway since her computer was destroyed by some vandal on the whole journey back.

He hadn't noticed what time it was before but now realized it when he saw the black sky. Night time? But when he popped into the HQ and saw the round clock on the wall, he reeled back a bit. Six in the morning. He'd been sleeping for almost twelve hours!

All the other penguins were up now, looking a little frantic. Kowalski was madly doing calculations on his clipboard and smartphone, Rico was walking all around the place like he didn't know where to go, and Skipper looked like he was on his sixth cup of fish coffee. Private realized they were probably like this since they'd known nothing of where he'd been for more than twelve hours, and that he had a lot of explaining to do.

But before he could open his beak, Skipper held up his flipper. "Kowalski, Rico and I already know where you've been, what you've done, and that you've been sleeping for quite a while. We visited both of you in the clinic." He flashed Private a genuine smile. "Kudos on finding Hope by the way, young Private. A true mark of a soldier. Saving those in distress!" He made a little sniffle.

Private was a bit surprised that they all already knew where he'd been and what he'd done. But it looked like they didn't know the completely story. As in what had just taken place when he'd woken up. "Skippah, I -"

"Unfortunately, Kowalski and Rico have not been able to fix the computer yet," Skipper continued. "So we were thinking of just buying a new one. After all, a new one would probably be faster than that hunk of junk Alice doesn't have anymore. You could find a new foster parent much faster!"

Now Private knew for sure that they still did not know what had happened just recently. Anyway, he'd already known from the start that you couldn't fix a computer that had actually _exploded_. "Skippah, I don't think you guys need to get a new computer anytime soon," he blurted out.

All three penguins raised their eyebrows. "Care to tell us why?" Kowalski asked.

Private took in a breath. "Because I think Hope is going to be adopted!"

* * *

**Yep, there it is. ;) Again.**

**And hold on WHAT WHAT WHAT Fanfiction, I thank you so much, you've increased the number of letters for summaries, and (this is even more exciting) you've added this new thing called Image Manager! I think I'm going to explode.**

**Now do me a favor, young reader, and click that fancy review button at the bottom center of the page, which is also a new addition from some time ago~**


	33. Rough Patches

**Girl**

**Chapter 33**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks a bunch to reviewers!: l-Angel-of-Darkness-l, ladybug201251, Eternally Ebony, Kukipye, Lovepaw and Silverpaw (wat.), InternetGirl123 (Want virtual cookie nao! :O), AnimationNut, and 17Bubbleslove. Darn it, don't you guys have better fanfics to review? Like those under my Favorites for example? If you must know, this chappy is one of my worst to date... Wish I could put more events, thoughts, and emotions in it but my mind will then go blank... :( Not to mention I took a long time to update. Ah, well, almost done.**

**And thanks to ClassifiedAndTopSecret for betareading. :3 Again. I probably did a crappy job in reworking it though...**

* * *

Time seemed to speed up after Private made his announcement, leaving him feeling lightheaded for a while. He had to explain himself first, and then there was a flurry of activity fueled with new energy they all now seemed to possess. They all agreed that they were going to monitor the whole process carefully undercover and make it certain that Hope did not get harmed anymore. The penguins were going to make sure everything went accordingly and that there wouldn't be anything peculiar happening the whole time.

The penguins witnessed multiple intense interviews Shauna had to go through. They flipped through sheets of paperwork she had to sign. They observed people observing how Shauna and Hope interacted with one another. They watched as Shauna plopped down on couches, exhausted but determined.

They slapped high fives in triumph. Everything, though a slow and painful process, was looking well. Their hopes were rising.

Well, maybe not everything was looking good. Private never expected any of this to be perfect, after all. He saw other people disapprove of her decision because they thought she was still too young, and her spouse was away most of the time. Could she handle this? They had doubts. But she was firm. She didn't know why, but she was so very resolute on adopting Hope, and nothing anyone said could seem to change that. And the penguins had faith in her. She could do it.

But even her husband had doubts. They were still getting settled down. And he was away at sea right now, doing some research on marine life, which was his job. So he was very, very, reluctant. But Shauna wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Shauna, I don't think this is a good idea."

"It may, it may not, but I have to do this."

"I think we would need more time to think about this. It's a big decision after all."

"I've already thought about it long and hard! And adopting Hope will be the best decision I've ever made."

"Adopting a child is not like getting a pet, you know."

"Of course it isn't! It's a big deal, but we're ready! And I'm not changing my mind."

"…"

"You just don't understand. There's just something about the girl. I feel like it's my duty to protect her."

"Well, have you even thought about _me_? How I feel about this?"

"I think you wouldn't recognize an opportunity that would change lives forever and benefit everyone if it bit you on the nose!"

"_Shauna_…"

And then the phone was abruptly hung up.

Oh, the whole process was hard and stressful indeed, and even awkward and uncomfortable sometimes. But for some weird, strange reason, Shauna never gave up. It amazed Private. He never knew humans could possess such a drive and care for a little girl, and he greatly admired all the great lengths she took to make sure the adoption would go along the right path.

But still. All the doubtful people were being very big barriers along the path to her destination. Some obstacles were just too large to make past. Private still worried that she may not be able to make it there.

And so he hoped.

* * *

**Tomorrow I'm going to represent my school in a poetry slam competition with this other guy... I'm nervous. Anyway, don't forget to review, using that even more fancy review feature below! I love the way it looks now. Thank you FF for all these new updates, a blog and everything. **

**H****appy Friday the 13th everybody!**


	34. Welcome Home

**Girl**

**Chapter 34**

**Darn, I hate myself. Thanks to reviewers!: 17Bubbleslove, Lovepaw and Silverpaw, Skipper917, XxPenguinSoldierxX, Dinosaur-Fun, Eternally Ebony (I'd already mentioned it in a chapter before), Kukipye, Skystar Leader of FlameClan, and thanks once again to my betareader ClassifiedAndTopSecret. :3**

* * *

Everyone doubtful started coming around after some time, you could say. The wait was achingly slow. It felt like the adoption would never happen. But of course it did. It was quite a memorable day for everyone.

People went to inspect Shauna's apartment, and Hope and the penguins came along. Everyone's reaction to her apartment wasn't so great though.

The lights were dim. Most of the windows faced a dark back alley. The walls were a bit cracked. Even though everything was organized and tidy, there still seemed a messy feel to everything. Not to mention that the apartment really was practically the size of a shoebox.

As Shauna feebly to explain the poor state of the apartment by telling everyone that she planned to move into a nicer place sooner or later, Hope wandered about the place with the penguins not far behind, doing a thorough recon of the place. She didn't expect to find but was delighted to see that Shauna had some animals of her own at home too. A tank of fish. Two rabbits. A yellow bird in a cage. That was all that she spotted. But she did find many stuffed animals sitting everywhere, especially in the two bedrooms. This place was definitely her kind of place, even if it was hardly passable in other people's eyes. It was cozy and snug. The people were friendly and warm. She even felt safe.

Private was feeling the same way. The long struggle was almost over. Then a sudden worry hit him. It instantly filled him with horror. Skipper noticed this and asked what was wrong.

"Well, we might be helping Hope," he said shakily, "but what about the rest of the poor children who are worse off than Hope was at the beginning? What's going to happen to _them_? What should we do?"

Skipper looked at him in a concerned manner. "You know that it would be impossible to help out every unfortunate soul in the world. We could all try our best, yet you know it would never be enough. I'm not saying you should do nothing while others are in pain, young Private. But you ought to know that your happiness counts too. And you're not the only one who feels the need to reach out a hand to others though it may seem like no one else may care. Do what you think you need to do, Private, but cut yourself some slack. After all, you're already helping one little girl – be proud of that."

Private wasn't sure if this was the answer he wanted, so he wandered off without saying anything, much to Skipper's disappointment. He was happy to see Hope happy. He wished that for everyone. For now, though, Hope was his girl, the one he brought joy and who had given him happiness in return. He loved her and she loved him. He was proud of that.

Right now she was goofing around with Rico in the smaller bedroom and Kowalski was trying to climb out of an avalanche of plushies that had unfortunately fallen on him. Private laughed. "Everything is going to be just fine," he said softly to himself. Yet why did he still feel tears pricking his eyes? Maybe because this voyage was coming to an end, and he didn't want it to finish. It felt too sad. Yet he couldn't inflict further pain to anyone. It made him feel torn. Thankfully Hope turned to him with bright eyes before the dam could break.

"Why are your eyes all wet?" she asked curiously.

He stumbled towards her. "It's just… I dunno… Hard to explain…"

But the next thing they knew they were both bawling on the floor of the room with their arms and flippers wrapped around each other tightly as the other three penguins looked at them like they were crazy. But soon they found themselves part of the cry-fest too. And they didn't mind – they had all shared the hardships in this journey. From finding Hope, then cleaning her up, before bringing her back to her home, which hadn't turned out to be much of a home and then finding a new one for her. The terrible people they had encountered, when Private had snapped, then when Hope had not run away but towards the penguins in the zoo. When Private had found her alone in the rain, and then when Shauna had brought them both warmth and comfort. The long wait for her to finally be declared Hope's guardian, leading up to this moment.

And it felt so insane, with so much emotion spilling out of every one of them.

That was basically how Shauna found them as she ran into the room, so excited she didn't even notice the penguins, shouting about how the officials had finally agreed, Hope was now finally adopted, she was going to live here, and it was going to be incredible.

"Well done Private," Skipper said while Kowalski hollered "you've done it!" and Rico grunted excitedly. "You make me so proud."

In response, Private turned to Hope and grinned through his tears. She grinned back.

"Welcome home, Hope!"

* * *

**Next chapter is last chapter.**


	35. Epilogue

**Girl**

**Epilogue**

**By EppogirlXD**

**Thanks to reviewers!: Girl Supersonicboy, We'll-be-chasing-the-sun, Kukipye, GrimlockX4, Asmith137, 17Bubbleslove, VivianShadowGirl, Dinosaur-Fun, XxPenguinSoldierxX, and Lovepaw and Silverpaw.**

**WELL FINALLY. I guess I'm done… I wish the last chapter could be better, or at least longer, but I guess this is how it'll turn out. Better than no ending, I'll say. I know no one is probably going to read this anymore, since I took forever to update, but hey, can't say I didn't warn you about my procrastinatin'. XD Oh well. I'm thankful to every single review you guys gave to my longest fic ever. And so without further ado, here we go!**

* * *

"Ready…"

"SET GO!" Hope hollered, kicking off before Private had a chance to finish his sentence, or be ready for that matter, as they zipped off down the hill, leaving Shauna, who was sitting on a bench reading her book, behind.

"Gah!" he yelled from the wooden basket of Hope's bike as they whizzed down a sidewalk in Central Park. Though 'whizzed' sounds too graceful. More like they jolted left and right and almost crashed into trees and people as Hope jerked her handlebars awkwardly from side to side as they flew on the bike at an insane pace, screaming all the way. Private almost regretted coming up with the idea on teaching Hope how to ride a bicycle, he was scared half to death.

That wasn't how Hope felt though. A bike with no training wheels! It was so much faster. After a few pathetic tries before when she started off cautiously, wobbling around slowly before quickly falling down, she decided to take Private's suggestion on using momentum and going fast in order to stay steady and not fall. And she took that suggestion head-on. Now she felt so free! She was in pure bliss, the wind felt incredible, the autumn leaves gently falling around her. Who cared about her near-slam into the hot dog cart? She was no longer restrained to walking on the ground. She felt unstoppable, her hair whipping out behind her. Maybe it was more than going so fast. She really _was_ free. The future felt so breathtakingly near. She could be whatever she wanted to be.

Oh, but it was all definitely going to be hard to accomplish it all. No one said striving for your dreams was going to be easy. And especially what she had been through? Tough. Even starting kindergarten tomorrow. It didn't seem easy at all, starting school for the first time. Would she able to interact well with others? Could she fit in?

She peddled faster, laughing at Private's pleas to slow down, enjoying the moment, wishing it would last forever. Then again, who _cared_ about fitting in? She was who she was, her past couldn't be changed. _Be yourself_, they said. Well, she was Hope. She was happy.

She was about to collide with the bush ahead.

Before Private could warn her, they crashed into the stems and leaves, shrieking hysterically. It didn't matter that the branches scratched their faces and they got their clothes and feathers smeared with dirt. Hope felt way too full of joy to care.

For a moment, they lay facing one another beneath all the branches and leaves and bike parts, panting, grinning. Private looked straight into Hope's eyes. They no longer seemed dull gray and lifeless. They shone brilliantly, filled with bliss, so dazzling they looked bright silver. It almost brought tears to his eyes.

"Come on, Private," Hope giggled before grabbing him and bursting through the bushes on the other side. And the next thing he knew, they were rolling down a hill, crazy wild and laughing non-stop, towards a setting sun behind the buildings and a bright future ahead.

**The End**


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